The link below is to a full transcript of President Barack Obama's speech in Selma, Alabama on the 50th anniversary of the Selma march in support of passing the civil rights law in 1965.
http://time.com/3736357/barack-obama-selma-speech-transcript/
It was a powerful, passionate speech, worth reading it all. Here are selected excerpts:
"There are places, and moments in America where this nation’s destiny has
been decided. Many are sites of war – Concord and Lexington,
Appomattox and Gettysburg. Others are sites that symbolize the daring
of America’s character – Independence Hall and Seneca Falls, Kitty Hawk
and Cape Canaveral.
"Selma is such a place.
"In one afternoon fifty years ago, so much of our turbulent history – the
stain of slavery and anguish of civil war; the yoke of segregation and
tyranny of Jim Crow; the death of four little girls in Birmingham, and
the dream of a Baptist preacher – met on this bridge.
"It was not a clash of armies, but a clash of wills; a contest to determine the meaning of America. . . .
"We gather here to honor the courage
of ordinary Americans willing to endure billy clubs and the chastening
rod; tear gas and the trampling hoof; men and women who despite the gush
of blood and splintered bone would stay true to their North Star and
keep marching toward justice. . . .
"The Americans who crossed this bridge . . . . gave courage to millions. They held no elected office. But they
led a nation. They marched as Americans who had endured hundreds of
years of brutal violence, and countless daily indignities – but they
didn’t seek special treatment, just the equal treatment promised to them
almost a century before. . . .
"What could more profoundly vindicate the idea of America than plain and
humble people – the unsung, the downtrodden, the dreamers not of high
station, not born to wealth or privilege, not of one religious tradition
but many – coming together to shape their country’s course? . . .
"Because of campaigns like this, a Voting Rights Act was passed.
Political, economic, and social barriers came down, and the change these
men and women wrought is visible here today in the presence of
African-Americans who run boardrooms, who sit on the bench, who serve in
elected office from small towns to big cities; from the Congressional
Black Caucus to the Oval Office.
"Because of what they did, the doors of opportunity swung open not just
for African-Americans, but for every American. Women marched through
those doors. Latinos marched through those doors. Asian-Americans, gay
Americans, and Americans with disabilities came through those doors.
Their endeavors gave the entire South the chance to rise again, not by
reasserting the past, but by transcending the past. . . .
"First and foremost, we have to recognize that one day’s commemoration,
no matter how special, is not enough. If Selma taught us anything, it’s
that our work is never done . . . .
"[A] common mistake is to suggest that racism is banished,
that the work that drew men and women to Selma is complete . . . . We don’t need the Ferguson
report to know that’s not true. We just need to open our eyes, and
ears, and hearts, to know that this nation’s racial history still casts
its long shadow upon us. . . .
"This is work for all Americans, and not just some. . . . All of us will need to feel, as they did, the fierce urgency of now.
All of us need to recognize, as they did, that change depends on our
actions, our attitudes, the things we teach our children. And if we
make such effort, no matter how hard it may seem, laws can be passed,
and consciences can be stirred, and consensus can be built.
"With such effort, we can make sure our criminal justice system serves
all and not just some. . . . With effort, we can roll back poverty and the roadblocks to opportunity.
. . . And with effort, we can protect the foundation stone of our democracy
for which so many marched across this bridge – and that is the right to
vote. Right now, in 2015, fifty years after Selma, there are laws
across this country designed to make it harder for people to vote. As
we speak, more of such laws are being proposed. Meanwhile, the Voting
Rights Act, the culmination of so much blood and sweat and tears, the
product of so much sacrifice in the face of wanton violence, stands
weakened, its future subject to partisan rancor.
"How can that be? The Voting Rights Act was one of the crowning
achievements of our democracy, the result of Republican and Democratic
effort. President Reagan signed its renewal when he was in office.
President Bush signed its renewal when he was in office. One hundred
Members of Congress have come here today to honor people who were
willing to die for the right it protects. If we want to honor this day,
let these hundred go back to Washington, and gather four hundred more,
and together, pledge to make it their mission to restore the law this
year. . . .
"America is not some fragile thing; we are large, in the
words of Whitman, containing multitudes. We are boisterous and diverse
and full of energy, perpetually young in spirit. . . . [T]he single most powerful word in our democracy is the word “We.”
We The People. We Shall Overcome. Yes We Can. . . . ."
-- the words of Barack Obama, March 7, 2015
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