>>Becky>> The issue of immigration stirs intense emotions today, as it has throughout much of American history.

But what gets lost in the debates about policy are the stories of immigrants themselves, the people who are drawn to America by its promise of economic opportunity and political and religious freedom, and who strengthen our nation in countless ways.

So begins former President George W Bush and his new book Out of Many One, Portraits of America's Immigrants and has just published already New York Times bestseller.

The President paints portraits and tells the stories of 43 immigrants in the midst of the immigration controversy.

We traveled to Dallas to ask the former President why a book on immigration now.

I'm Becky Ferguson.

And this is One Question.

[intro music] >>Announcer>> Made possible with support by Pristine Organic Cleaners, Diamondback Energy and West Texas National Bank.

- Former President George W Bush painted 43 portraits of immigrants for his new book, entitled Out of Many One.

Those Words in Latin, E Pluribus Unum.

Our nation's motto appear on the great SEAL of the United States.

Why a book on immigration now?

We traveled to Dallas to meet with the former president to ask him that question and many others, including what the nation should do with regard to immigration policy, why he painted and told the stories of two midlanders in the book and how we can bridge our tribal divides to be kinder to one another and assume honorable motives on the parts of our political opponents.

And we also talked about his post-presidential passion painting.

We met in the President's Dallas office.

- Thank you so much for visiting with us.

I bought your book, of course, because I wanted to study your portraits.

Then I downloaded the audio because I wanted to hear you tell the stories.

And I love that.

I also got to hear the immigrants tell their stories.

And I uh laughed like mom or the nukes.

[laughter] Hilarious.

Or learning English from watching Seinfeld.

>> President Bush>> Right.

- I was also so unbelievably touched by these stories.

And um, also it also gave me a sense of gratitude and of patriotism.

- Good.

- And I felt like um it was so bold for you to write such an optimistic book.

And I wondered why immigrants and why now?

- Well, first of all, why be optimistic?

And uh the reason why is I guess I spent enough time in Midland to be optimistic.

Remember when I first got out there, the sky's the limit, which really conveys a sense of optimism.

And in Midland, you can you can see a long way.

And I'm an optimistic guy.

And I believe there uh even though we've been through a very dark period of time in American politics, that uh better days lie ahead.

Secondly, uh I have always been interested in immigration uh and um and I think I've got a pretty good feel for the vitality and energy.

Somebody who's escaped tyranny brings to our country.

And I was discouraged by the immigration debate, the tone of the immigration debate.

And so this is my one attempt or not one attempt an attempt to elevate the discourse and hopefully get people to focus on uh positive aspects.

Becky, it really starts with uh a core value of we're all God's children.

And uh I think if you start with that attitude, then all of a sudden it will enable you to view immigration not as a threat, but as an opportunity, opportunity for economic growth and opportunity to enhance patriotism and an opportunity to increase compassion.

- I want to talk a little bit about your art.

- Okay.

- You have mentioned that you read uh Winston Churchill's book Painting as a Pastime.

- Right.

- And in his book, he talks about how you can rest the tired part of your brain by using another part of your brain.

- Yuh - So when you talk about the effect painting has on you.

- Was definitely use another part of my brain.

The weird thing is, is that I never thought that that part of the brain would be uh would ever get activated.

And uh it's changed my life because, you know, I see things differently, uh and I'm I'm enthused because I'm learning so much.

Uh, you're a painter.

And as you know, every every brushstroke is a learning experience.

Uh, secondly, uh in order to be a better painter, you've got to study other painters, which in itself is a learning experience.

And so um I'm doing something that no one ever envisioned me doing, including my wife and close friends, and I'm doing it uh enthusiastically, uh and so yeah, it's changed me a lot.

And Winston Churchill was the reason I started painting.

I mean, I'm a big admirer of Chu And I figured if that guy can paint, I can paint, and uh and uh so, yeah, I paint all the time.

- When you uh um I'm just amazed at your portraiture, because I think that's a particularly uh difficult thing to paint when you start to paint somebody.

What is important to get right?

I mean, when somebody walks in or you see a picture of somebody - Yeah, - where are you starting?

What's important?

- Well the important thing is to make sure the eyes, nose, mouth are are are positioned right.

Secondly, uh I think the most important part of painting a good painting is to understand the story about the person you're painting.

Uh, so, like, uh you know, these immigrants, I knew their stories and I studied their stories before I started painting the first painting in, there's a guy named Joseph Kim, a North Korean escapee.

And, you know, I don't know if I did this consciously or not, but when you look at his painting, uh, the darks are dark and the light is light.

And in essence, you're painting a guy who's going from darkness, North Korea to light America.

- Oh, wow.

- And, you know, I can't say I consciously did that, but I wouldn't have done that had I not known his story.

And so I'm thinking about a kid escaping into China at the age of 14 and uh or Jean Lincoln, who was terribly abused in Rwanda and yet is full of forgiveness.

I mean, genuine forgiveness.

And when you talk to her, there's no doubt she is a person who is unburdened her heart and uh and so when I painted her, I tried to paint this kind of almost angelic look.

And so to answer your question first know the person you're painting, but from a tactical perspective, the eyes tell the story.

And so I spent a lot of time learning how to paint eyes.

And I've had good instructors helping me uh And uh you know, how to make sure the eyes are shaped right, but also to make sure that, you know, the shadow in the eye itself uh is done right and uh - Will you talk about your teachers when you're painting one of these portraits and you get to a difficult point.

Do you have somebody come in and and look at it with you and help with critique?

- Initially, I did.

The thing about it is, is it a portrait or a painting never ends.

- You just have to stop.

- Yeah, exactly.

And so there's a lot of times I painted portraits and an instructor comes by and uh you know, I'll say, Jim or Cedric, uh what do you think?

And sometimes they say, that's a good one.

Or sometimes I say, Well, have you thought about this?

And then you repaint or move in.

The thing about painting, uh once you change your color, then you've got to change other colors that's next to it and so it so you have to be disciplined and say enough's enough, uh, but uh yeah, know e, uh, initially, of course, I spent a lot of time with the instructors learning a lot of things.

And as time goes on, uh I've seen them less frequently because they're very busy.

But uh they'll come by and we'll talk about other artists.

So they'll see me because I have a lot of my things there in the art studio and they always say, Oh, that reminds me of, you know, Jorge Guillen or whatever.

And then some we'll Google and - Let's look and see what you have - Yeah.

And so it's as much art history as well as, uh spending time with them, encouraging me uh with confidence I've become a bolder painter.

I mean, at first I was kind of a let's see if I can as a precise painter, you know, make sure that it looks exactly like it's supposed to look.

And now I'm trying to get more artistic uh and and that's just a matter of confidence.

- Well, your strokes are bold.

- Yeah.

- And your colors are blocky, which I think are really interesting.

- Well thank you - I mean, you're not fussing.

- Not fussing.

That's a good way to put it.

And my one instructor keeps yelling at me, Don't be fussy.

But uh yeah, and I'm not trying to blend perfectly.

I'm not a I'm a, you know, Lucian Freud influenced painting.

- Yes, yes.

- And uh Cedric Huckerby, the young painter out of Fort Worth, influenced my portrait painting.

And they don't try to blend.

They try to create, uh you know, interesting art.

And uh that's what I'm trying to do.

And, you know, and this book was a way of.

So a buddy of mine said, We need your voice.

And, you know, I don't want my voice.

I mean, my voice is out there for eight years and that's enough.

And he said, Well, and the reason why Becky is because I think here's the great beauty of America, the institution of the presidency is more important than the occupant of the office.

And it provides great stability it has throughout the years and will continue to do so.

And uh and I think it undermines the institution that had me second guessing, my successors, of which there are now three uh.

But the guy said, well, why don't you paint the portraits of immigrants?

You know, I was interested in immigration.

I did, and uh and so then I knew the stories and I thought the stories should be instructive to Americans.

I don't expect a lot of people to read this book, but to the extent they do, they've got to be impressed by uh the courage, the compassion that others have shown them uh and their contribution to our country.

- I told you a minute ago that the book made me feel very patriotic.

It also made me very proud to walk among people who will help folks when they come here - Yeah - to recover and adjust.

- And that's important.

The key thing for, you know, people in Midland to understand is that every you know, most everybody wants to enforce the border.

I mean, that's we're a nation of law.

But in order to better enforce the border, we have to reform the system.

And it's broken.

And there's a better way.

And, you know, I've got some suggestions in there.

And what I hope happens is, is that, you know, that uh Congress will act finally and, you know, take some baby steps toward a reform package that ultimately yielded more border enforcement.

- So you think it should be incremental instead of comprehensive?

- Yeah, I do.

I tried comprehensive in o-six killed by the Democrats by the way, uh because they viewed it as a labor union issue at the time.

And uh uh yeah, I think baby steps, DACA or, you know, some of these I mean, look if you ask most Americans, should we be sending kids whose parents brought them here and who were educated and now have jobs?

Should we send them back home when they have no home?

Most Americans are saying, no, no, it doesn't make any sense.

So if that's the case, why don't you just fix it?

And that'll give people confidence and start plowing through all the politics of, you know, an issue that's a hot button issue at times.

- Well, I know you noticed like I did last week when the census was released, that the last decade was the slowest growth decade since the Depression.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Because of low immigration and low birthrate.

- Right.

- So are we going to find ourselves in a position where we don't have enough workers?

- Well, that's a good question.

That's why I'm for reforming the work program.

I mean, er look, there's people doing jobs that need to be done.

And if there's a worker, uh you know, verified worker program, they don't have to sneak across the border.

They can come and work.

And that will then make it easier to enforce the border.

But here's the danger.

Guys like me and I'm not going to put you in this category, but, uh you know, we're going to get our Social Security check and but there's not enough young workers - Right - to take care of the up and coming generations to our kids, for example, you know, maybe given the ultimate false promise.

And it requires young workers.

And so, yeah, no question this is an economic issue.

And uh I mean, here in the Metroplex, uh it's booming.

And I talked to a landscaper the other day who said, I'm looking for 150 workers.

And uh and yet the system is bureaucratic and cumbersome and uh it hurts.

It hurts many small businesses not to be able to get workers they need.

- You have painted world leaders, I know, right after you left office.

- Right.

- I want to ask you real quickly, did you get in trouble with any of them?

- Uh, uh not really thankfully, it's the one that I was most in danger with was uh uh Angela Merkel, my dear friend.

- Yes.

- And Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

The reason why is painting women can be very delicate.

And as you know, I tend to push paint hard.

And therefore, sometimes if you're not careful, the features are not uh delicate.

And I think on those two, they were pleased with it and uh I look back at them the other day and some of them did what I wanted to do.

I mean, if you look at Karzai's eyes, they're pretty suspicious.

[laughter] Uh, uh I'm really happy with the Dalai Lama, my dear, my dear buddy, uh.

But yeah, I know that was an interesting moment as a teaching moment because my instructor introduced me to her instructor, a guy named Roger Winter, uh and I had just been painting for maybe two years, and he came into my studio up there at the house and said, You ought to paint the leaders with whom you served.

And it was a stunning comment by a very good artist.

And I my first reaction was, Wow, you think I can do that?

He said, Absolutely.

And, you know, it gave me the confidence to try.

And uh so I spent a year painting them.

And it was a you know, it's interesting only because uh it's not so much the artwork, but it's what did George Bush think of, you know, how did he relate to?

And so you look at Angela in there say, well, he must have really liked her, which is true.

I did.

- And then you painted veterans and now.

- Painted the vets.

- Yes.

- And so yeah uh this came about cause Cedric Huckaby says why don't you paint the portraits of people nobody knows?

And I had been dealing with vets a lot and I wanted to honor them.

And so I painted 98 of them.

And, uh you know, it's a it's a big exhibit.

It's got three large panels with I don't know how many faces on them a lot and uh you know, it's a a a it was an interesting exercise.

And, uh, you know, because many of them got hurt as a result of my orders and so I had this great bond with them.

And, uh you know, uh I wanted to show courage.

Some of them were dealing with the invisible wounds of war and uh you know, there's a guy in there uh it's pretty harsh painting of him.

And I said, I met him uh when I was selling the book.

I saw him again when I was selling the book.

And I said, you know, it's a tough painting.

And he looked at it and said, That's how I used to feel, which was, you know, more of my soul.

- Hmm I liked that there were some past tense there.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

I'm thinking about when you were the Governor.

- Yeah.

And Bob Bullock was a Lieutenant Governor, right?

And he didn't like very many people, but he liked you.

- Yeah he liked me.

- You liked him.

- A lot - And you all worked together.

- Yeah - And then I'm thinking you went to Washington and you work with Ted Kennedy to pass the wonderful education bill.

- Right.

- And so I'm wondering, in these polarized times, what can we do to find uh kindness and the assumption of good intentions - Yeah - being a part of our political opponent?

- Yeah, see, that's a really good question.

And that's what's missing right now, uh but it takes time to work these moments out of our system.

I happen to believe that uh part of the last election, particularly here in these congressional districts up here, was surely we can be kinder to each other.

And so what's interesting is if you look at the results, the President didn't do very well.

But underneath uh at the state house and stuff, Republicans did do well.

And so to me, uh that's a sign that parts of the electorate, you know, expected something better out of the leadership in terms of treating each other with respect.

And so I think, you know, I believe that's still going to be important to voters as time goes on.

It just takes time to work through the system.

- Of 43 paintings.

Why two midlanders?

- Well, because these are people I know and admire their story.

First of all, Javaid Anwar was one of the more generous people I know and uh he's a guy that was in Pakistan and goes to the University of Wyoming, raised by a single mother.

And he had a dream and uh he worked hard and has done very well in the oil and gas business.

And he's done very well in the generosity field.

Bobby Fu uh was uh harassed as a result of his faith in China and, um you know, he ends up in America by chance.

He would say the grace of God.

And uh and uh he is still active in terms of uh holding governments that don't believe in freedom of religion to account.

And uh so I admire Bobby Bob.

I shouldn't call Bobby Bob Fu's courage.

And uh, you know, I think they're interesting stories and I think that it's a part of the kind of general theme of the book, which is people who take extraordinary risks to realize dreams.

And when they come to the country, they're not only you know, good citizens, but they help others, uh And so I'm glad you put him.

I'm glad you're in, talk to him.

- I am too one more thing.

Over the weekend, I was with my daughter and son in law and I had just listened to your book.

And so I kept relaying different stories that touched me.

And my daughter said, Mom, you really need to ask the President to relay a story.

So will you relay a story that particularly moved you.

- Well, I I mentioned Jean Linco but Gilbert of Austin, Texas, I got to know Janet told me about this inspiring man who got her to run every Saturday morning when she was a senior at Texas.

And I said, this guy's got to be really inspiring to get Janet out of bed.

And uh so his story is this uh He was a champion runner as a as a young guy in Burundi.

Uh, the Hutu Tutsi crisis just was emerging.

He's a Tutsi and a Hutu classmate of his and others, obviously instigators locked all the Tutsi students in the school house and burned it and 30% of his body gets burned.

He gets out and he runs to a hospital and hides from Hutu thugs.

Eventually, uh he ends up uh at Abilene Christian on a track scholarship.

And the interesting thing about Go and he met Paul, who started Run Text in Austin.

And so he started Gilbert's Gazelles, which is running club and uh he has inspired a lot of people because he is such a genuinely decent man.

He could have been full of hate, full of anger, but he's not.

And uh he also raises money to uh drill find clean water for Burundi villages in other words he forgets where he came from.

One of the things about immigration is important is people can become fully American, but they don't have to forget their past, uh.

You know, you can honor your traditions.

I learned that firsthand from Paolo Rendon, who uh was with our family for 60 years and uh not quite 60, 50 years, a long time uh and 1959 until recently.

And uh and she was like a second mother.

She came with nothing.

She left three kids in Mexico.

She worked hard, brought them to the United States.

Uh, they became citizens.

Her son was a U.S. Marine and uh and there's generations of her offspring in Houston, uh and yet and she was very proud of her Mexican tradition traditions.

But she was also a patriotic, proud American.

And uh she was my first introduction to a to an immigrant.

And I saw how hard she worked uh and how decent she was.

And as Dara said, you know, I cried more at Polish funeral than my mother's.

- Oh - Yeah - I love that.

You're the best.

- Thank you.

- Among the 43 portraits of immigrants the President painted for his book are two midlanders Bob Fu and Javaid Anwar.

Fu a persecuted Christian refugee from China, and Anwar, an immigrant from Pakistan.

- I'm visiting with Bob Fu the founder of China Aid.

And on this particular occasion, I'm talking to you because uh you were one of the 43 portraits that President Bush painted and included in his book Out of Many One.

So I want you to tell your story and if you will start off by telling us how did you come to be named Bob?

>> Bob >> Yeah.

Well, thank you so much for um an interview.

And I am very honored, of course, to be a included as one of the many uh immigrants uh in this book by President Bush.

This name, Bob, uh actually was uh picked up in a random drawing by our American English teachers in our college, uh Try to, of course, identify the Chinese students, um but it's hard for them to remember the Chinese names.

Right.

So we got our name by drawing.

A lot of the girls has a basket of English names.

The boys has another.

So my first draw was Joseph.

I'm, you know, so when I draw that, I saw Joseph.

That's too complicated to remember.

So I traded my holy name Joseph with my desk mate Bob.

That's how I got my name.

Bob.

- If you will tell us how it was that you came to leave China and why you had to leave.

- Yeah, we left China purely because of the religious persecution, um you know I was one of uh the Tiananmen Square student leaders because of the political persecution in 1989, after the massacre, I became a follower of Christ, um.

And through the uh help of our American uh English teachers who are Christians and then later on, we, my wife and I started an underground house church in Bejing and a then established underground a Bible training school that led both my wife and I arrested uh and imprisoned for two months and um later on, after we were released and then immediately put under house arrest, especially after we found um uh we my wife was pregnant uh without a pregnancy permission card is, you know, China's family planning system.

Unless you have a specific quota uh to get a legal pregnancy, the mother will face uh uh the forced abortion.

I mean, literally several hundreds of millions it's it's is not really kind of Oh, it's hard for me even to think about that, uh.

The Chinese government even admitted at least a over 130 million were Chinese children, were forcefully aborted.

Uh.

So we don't want to see our first child to be force, forcefully aborted.

So we fled out of our apartment in Beijing at uh midnight.

I had a almost a 007 type of escape by climbing uh the the toilet room of the window and in the uh in the dark night stepped with really a leap of faith, uh.

Just to a a drop myself to the um to bill, you know, down to the building outside and even passed out for a few seconds.

And uh so Heidi was pregnant.

She has to disguise herself.

We fled out of Beijing and essentially, by God's grace, miraculously, we were able to fly out to Hong Kong uh before Hong Kong was turned over to China.

Our boy, our son, Daniel, was born a in 1997, and a then three days before Hong Kong was turned over to China, we were admitted as uh refugees to the United States, landing this a land of the free, uh Really, uh we have forever thankful to this country, um.

You know, a warm welcome uh into America.

Yeah.

- You um pay that back, I think, uh by uh continuing to help refugees in China.

Could you talk a little bit about your work?

- Yes.

You know, one of the features of China Aid mission, we call it a three year mission, is to expose the abuses of the persecution and to encourage the abused and to equip the leaders.

Basically, you know, we call our the uh to walk with the persecuted faithful by advancing religious freedom for all faiths.

And to I mean, our kind of motto is religious freedom for anyone, anywhere at any time.

So that's uh when we found uh if those religious persecuted faithful uh who are facing imminent danger, a life threatening, and if we got a chance and able, we would rescue them to safety.

And so some uh are rescued to the United States uh in the past uh um uh kind of nearly 20 years or so, we rescued a few hundred already.

Uh, the latest one, we rescued a Kazakh Muslim family a who the mother was uh um put in the Concentration camp you know, the Chinese government is engaging this do no side and a crime against humanity to this weaker and the Kazakh and other minority groups between 1 to 3 million uh according to the Pentagon are estimated right now in these over 380 concentration camps in West China called Xinjiang.

So this lady, her name is Wazir, so she spent over 15 months in the concentration camp and not only herself a was abused heavily, but she also eye witness this tremendous torture.

I mean, crime um basically a is a state sponsored forced prostitution against uh these a ladies in the concentration camp.

So after I heard about this I contact with our partner organization in Kazakhstan, because this lady has a Kazakh husband um a in Kazakhstan.

So she uh a left China after signing, you know, a a agreement with the Chinese government after her husband, of course, a had been making advocacy an appeal to the international community.

Um, so we just a February this year, uh we uh rescued her out of Turkey.

And after, you know, we kind of got her out and um yup she's now in Midland Texas.

- And you brought your Midland, Texas.

Brought her to Midland.

- Yup With a five year old daughter and her husband here and a her daughter just started her first time in a an English speaking school, happily in a public school in Midland.

Yeah.

- Can you talk a little bit abou the government involvement in rescuing refugees?

- Yeah, I mean, the US governmen right?

Um, uh I mean, we are, of course, our family and many a uh of those who are persecuted are the a beneficiaries.

And also witnessing a this um a, this the program for really generosity and compassion of the American people, uh for accepting resettling those really hundreds of thousands of refugees over the years.

And, um you know, myself and uh uh our Heidi, my wife and our two month old baby, Daniel, as I mentioned, when we came here, uh is is part of that.

And uh thank God for, you know, Bill Clinton actually, he was the one made a very uh daring decision um when we were stuck in Hong Kong.

We could be returned to Chinese prison without their decision.

And um but over the years, I I I certainly you know, it it its a I have never thought it's become a a a little politic kind of a dispute, uh uh um I mean, I just feel, you know, this should never be uh because we are a country, a melting pot.

Right, uh uh immigrants, I mean, from early years of the the Puritans who like their early fathers, they're from, you know, different areas.

And then we have Italians, we have Irish, we have a different you know a country of origin.

and but all of a sudden it becomes a political issue.

It's really a very hard for me to observe, and especially, uh you know, honestly, I fell you know, I'm a registered Republican and uh this is the one key issue I would a really disagree with what a the a previous administration handled.

I think we are still the most powerful, most compassionate uh country on earth.

We can and should, you know, open our arm to accept more refugees than, you know, 15,000 or so and so or maybe even less, I think, in the past a few years.

So I feel um we uh this this we it's a life changing.

And it is not only I mean, we're talking about I think the critics talk about public charge, you know, fitting maybe some of those immigrants or refugees uh will burden our welfare, social security system.

And um it could be, you know, if we do not have a good vetting system and it could even pose some, you know, national security thing.

I mean, like the September 11th is a good example, you know, But at the same time, uh we can't just let our kind of a rivalry to occupy over compassion.

And um we can do a better job in vetting.

But the same time, you know, we uh this most of this refugees are immigrants.

I mean, they're hardworking people.

I mean, they are contributing to this society.

And um I you know, for myself, when we came here, um we were given a car by a Christian businessman in Philadelphia um without even asking.

And he provided a house for us to stay before he gave a house to his own son.

And he uh started like, uh uh you know, giving out some cash support.

And so to the point we even feel so guilty.

And when I was able to find a job as a student um doing some gardening work for a local doctor, I ask him to take off the insurance policy.

I said, I can pay for the insurance policy and I want to be really independent.

And so this kind of a spirit, I think, of the immigrants, um especially in the refugee community.

I just think it will make this country better and a stronger and really more prosperous if we handle it more properly.

So that's my take.

- It's a lovely take.

How is it that you ended up in Midland?

- Yeah, well, many people ask that question.

I always you ask that, you know, several congressional hearing and said, do you belong to Washington, D.C. or a New York or London or somewhere a because we have an international presence and um as a mission to advance religious freedom, uh China Aid has been, um you know, holding this mission.

It was it happened exactly because of this community's generosity and enormous love and compassion in 2004, I went to D.C. and organized a conference uh with some senior persecuted House District leaders and ended up meeting with a group of um a Texans and from the ministry it's called the Midland Ministry Alliance is led by Self-acclaimed housewife Deborah Fikes.

And anyway, so that's the first time I know the existence Midland.

So, you know, kind of a and we ended up meeting together because there was an anthrax scares that day.

And a Senator then Senator Sam Brownback and Congressman Frank Wolf kind of met with ours as a group together.

And when they learned that, you know, China aid was operatin from our yard, basically, and without any assistance assistance or staff, they said they uh made their Texans offer, said, can you come over for a visit?

But if one visit, we drove from Philadelphia, our family all the way to a Midland, a, Texas.

And then yeah, we fell in love with Texas and especially in this community without hesitation.

I mean, we kind of made our move we have never regretted.

I mean, this is such a I told uh the everyone when I travel around the world, the story about this, a small city, but with big dreams, everybody wants to change the world.

In the Permian Basin community.

I witnessed that.

I kind of feel that every day.

You know, we are loved in povered to help those poor, needy and oppressed for freedom from China, North Korea, Sudan, you know, all over the world.

I mean, this is the headquarter.

- I love that.

How did you get to know the President?

- Yeah, well, it was interesting I after meeting with, of course, Ms Ms Debra Fikes and came I mean, I learned I studied all this is the hometown of George W and Laura Bush and Laura Bush was even born here.

They have their a Bible study meeting.

That's Don Evans who is here is so kind of uh General Tommy Franks is also here.

A lot of famous people there.

But the most fascinating thing I a kind of learned was uh when we had our major test of a house church, Christian persecution uh I think that was the year two thousand, 2002 2004, I mean 2002 to 2004.

Anyway, so we had um I mean, five church leaders sentenced to death.

And then, you know, we made appeal and then somehow the end of the case and up to President Bush desk and later on, he himself intervened.

And uh yeah, the whole the five death sentence, the church leaders were I mean, commuted basically several a few to life sentence, a few to some other years, uh.

And then in 2000 um let's see.

So after we moved Midland, of course, we have more interaction with the White House and I also found a some a few friends end up working for him at the National Security Council.

So we start organizing that a Chinese human rights lawyers and a a house church leaders and rioters dissidents to the US.

Every time the White House opened the door, I mean, every time I mean, like sometimes we don't need even to make a pre scheduled a kind of a, you know, phone call appointment.

I just call them and they open the how open the White House.

I was talking we said, you know, White House is like our house.

It was just then 2008.

President Bush invited our actually to the White House before he and Laura went to Beijing Olympics.

He wants to know the persecution.

And I gave him so some assignment and so and after he got retired uh in in Dallas, he might ask again quite a few times to one time, even asked me to introduce Laura Bush at a big kind of news event in DC.

- I love that.

- From the home town.

- Of the home.

Yeah.

Hometown boy, you introducing the hometown girl?

- Yeah.

And he gave me a nickname every time.

- Uh huh.

What, what, what was your nickname?

- Yeah, the Bobby The Fighter.

He's.

- I love that - Bobby the Fighter, yeah - Bobby, the Fighter - So we enjoy our relationship, you know.

- So happy to be visiting with Javaid Anwar Who is the founder of Petro Plex and Midland Energy And when we interviewed the President, he said Javaid Anwar is one of the most generous men I have ever met.

He tells in his book stories of your generosity beginning back in Pakistan.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

>> Javaid Anwar >> Well, I was raised by a single mother.

And.

My mother and father were separated and I was lucky enough to live with my grandparents.

And that way we had very good food and shelter.

My mother worked as a telephone operator making very little money a I lived in Pakistan and they support country.

We have beggars knock on the door, ask for food.

So my mother and grandmother may be eating food.

I may have saved food for later on.

And what they do, they just grab that food, give it to the poor people who were asking for food.

And I asked my mother, grandmother, Oh, you didn't eat none of this.

We have already eaten.

So I learned how they try to help poor people from very early childhood.

- The President also mentions when he tells your story that a your mom was very committed to your education and spent most of the money she earned on your education.

And she had the great hope that you would become a doctor.

But you ran into a stumbling block, understand, in the eighth grade.

- That's right.

That's right.

Because I. I took some biology classes.

The names are so big, I just didn't like it.

So I said no way I'm going to become a doctor.

So I decided to go into engineering.

- And as I recall, you began in nuclear engineering.

And how did you come to decide on that and how did you get to America?

- While I was there, I was very much interested in energy, so I thought nuclear energy was really upcoming and I wanted to become a nuclear engineer.

And I. I applied for nuclear engineering and University of Wyoming.

I got admitted.

I want to live in Wyoming.

It's a cold and very, you know, very nice place to live because I am born and raised at a tropical place, Karachi, Pakistan, which never goes below 60 degrees.

Most of the time it gets very hot and humid.

So I thought Wyoming will be an ideal place to go and live there and I started my nuclear engineering first semester.

After the first semester I had a break.

I went to see some people in California another graduate from my university.

I knew him real well, uh told me uh I said, Where do you work?

He said, I'll show you where I work.

He took me down to a nuclear sub and I said, That's where you work.

He said, I stay here six months or more down in the sea.

I said, No way.

I decided not to do nuclear engineering right after that.

- And then what did you decide to do?

- I b I decided to become a petroleum engineer.

- And then what brought you to West Texas?

- Well, I had an offer, a job offer in.

In California.

And I thought it will be someplace like Santa Barbara where I can work on the rigs during the day in the field and go swim with the girl and the ocean.

But it turned out to be a Bakers Dusty um temperature of 120 degrees.

When I land there to interview the Getty guy, I told him, now I have another job offer.

I don't want to.

So that's why I decided to come to Houston, Texas.

I was interviewing in Houston.

Houston is just like my hometown, Karachi.

It gets hot and humid as I Oh no, I made a mistake.

So somebody told me, Go to Midland, Texas.

So I came here.

First day I was offered a job by Roy Williamson.

- The President also talks about in his story about you that that you worked for lots of different oil companies and moved around in West Texas to, I think, Abilene and Amarillo.

But then you decided because of the ups and downs of, the oil business, that you would rather have your own oil business than depend on other people.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Yes, I worked here in Midland for two plus years.

Then I got a job with Santa Fe Energy.

And, you know, I was very happy in Amarillo um within a few years.

They made me chief engineer at that company.

And so I have a lot of people working for me were much older than me, but then they decided to move the head office to Houston and I didn't want to live in Houston, so I decided to quit.

Then I went to Pampa, Texas, and after that what I saw in Pampa.

One day I was having a lunch with a few a colleagues and their Pampa is only like 60 miles from Amarillo.

My ex boss was Wayne Kelly.

They said, Do you know what happened?

Why?

What happened to Wayne Kelly?

I said, No, I don't know.

I said one.

Mr. Kelly was excellent boss, one of my very good friends, you know, and mentor.

He said the you know, one day they came in on a Friday, Larry, after years of 30 plus years of service, they let him go.

I said, So when is he working?

He said, You don't even know that.

I said, No, I don't know where he is.

He said, he passed away.

I said in his fifties?

I was just shocked.

And he had a kid in college, some in high school.

And then I see the train because our gas prices were all natural gas prices were $10 per thousand cubic feet or per MCF.

It dropped after President Reagan deregulated gas and oil.

It went down to one $1 and all those big gas projects that we were drilling with $10 gas.

They started laying off all these senior people who had a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge, you know, And I said, I don't want to go through this when I'm in my fifties or late forties or 50 plus whatever.

I said, I'm going to go start my own oil company and give it a try.

- One of my favorite parts of the story about you and the President's book as he talks about how you went back to Pakistan to visit your mother and that you were wearing a very fancy suit and your mother took great exception to that.

And what did she tell you?

- Well, I was working.

I had good money.

I had a very good job, all kind of benefits.

So I got used to getting custom made suits.

So I did wear a very expensive wear out outfit.

And she said, My God, you look nice.

But, you know, do you know how much you paid for it at that time?

I told her, you are like 25,000 for the suit.

She said, Oh my God, 25,000 for a suit.

You know how many poor people you can feed with $25,000?

I said, I didn't think that way that she would.

So she told me, you know, these expensive suits and expensive cars are okay, but think of poor people.

If you are blessed, let's share it.

That's what she told me.

So, you know, but she was very sshe she would if she had a fun if she had $10 to her, she would give it away for some poor person.

- So you come by your generosity honestly.

And I believe we've talked about the reason one of the reasons the President is so grateful for your generosity is he's familiar with all the things that you do in Midland and things that you've done for his library.

And can you talk a little bit about some of the projects that you've been involved in?

- Yes, I was involved with the initially, let me tell you, we were flying from New York back to Midland and he said his daughter, Barbara Bush, is starting a foundation.

So he told me gave so much money.

And I said, okay.

He said, how much would you give?

So I gave more than him.

He said, Really?

So he was very impressed.

He said, You mean it?

I said, Yeah.

Anyway, but he knew from Don Evans that I have given for UT Engineering a school to build a new facilities millions of dollars.

And I've done charity for his library and a lot of other institutes that need help.

- I read again in the story that when you graduated, you had always assumed that you would go back to Pakistan, but you decided not to because of the attitude Pakistanis have toward people like you and your mother.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Well generally, you know, when you when in that part of the world, it is like a family who has got lots of money.

They get privileged through treatment, you know, and they get jobs much easier than the ordinary person.

So I was an ordinary person.

So I thought about going back and then they asked my references and all that stuff.

I told one of the guys on the telephone, Well, if you if you need me for my qualification, fine.

I don't have no big references.

Then I decided just to stay, get training and see what comes up.

- And um I assume you have been pleased by the opportunities that you've had here.

- Sure.

I was very pleased.

You know, I worked first first job with Roy Williams and he's a gentleman and lives in town.

In fact, he lived right across from me.

I used to envy him because when I started working for him he had a red Corvette, a plane and custom made suits.

I always wanted to be Roy Williamson.

- Well, I would say that you have succeeded in that.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

- God has been very blessed.

Have blessed me with a lot of opportunities.

In fact, my first rule that I told my investors going to come in thirty barrels a day came in flowing 300 barrels of oil per day.

So that was a miracle.

There is a lot of other things that happened in my life that God has a great hand in and I can take full credit for it.

But no, it could not happen without his help.

- The President's book might well be mistaken for just a beautiful coffee table book, but it is much more.

It is powerful.

And the telling of grim but inspirational stories of refugees escaping unspeakable circumstances to be welcomed by open handed Americans, immigrants who, with the help of generous citizens, work hard to become successful citizens who go on to pay it forward.

You'll recognize some of the portraits Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example.

Though you might not know their stories, but there are dozens less famous whose portraits and stories are perhaps more compelling.

So the book is worth the look and the read.

But for the most powerful of Out of Many One, one should also listen to the audio read by President Bush, along with the voices of the immigrants.

I laughed and I cried.

And I felt patriotic and proud.

What could be better?

For our art segment this week, we present portraits of the immigrants President Bush painted for his book.

They are currently on exhibit at the George W Bush Presidential Center in Dallas through January of next year.

While you look, I will read The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, which is cast in bronze at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

It also appears next to a portrait of the statue in the President's book.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from land to land here at our sea washed sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch.

His flame is the imprisoned lightning in her name.

Mother of exiles.

From her beacon hand glows worldwide.

Welcome.

Her mild eyes command the air bridged harbor that Twin Cities frame keep ancient lands.

Your storied pomp cross.

She was silent lips.

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless tempest tossed to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

[outro music] Thank you for joining us for this season of One Question.

I'm Becky Ferguson.

Good night.

[outro music] >> Announcer >> Made possible with support by Pristine Organic Cleaners, Diamondback Energy and West Texas National Bank.

[outro music]