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Who Said What
Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States
On the evening of June 3, former U.S. President
Barack Obama addressed a virtual town hall hosted by My Brother's
Keeper Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation. The following
are some excerpts:
Obama stated that "We have seen in the last several weeks, last
few month, the kinds of epic changes [...] in our country
that are as profound as anything I have seen in my lifetime."
"I know enough about that history to say: There is something
different here," Obama said. "You look at those protests, and that
was a far more
representative cross-section of America out on the streets,
peacefully protesting, who felt moved to do something because of
the injustices that they have seen. That didn't exist back in the
1960s, that kind of broad coalition."
"I've been hearing a little bit of chatter ... voting vs.
protest. Politics and participation versus civil disobedience and
direct action," Obama said. "This is not an either/or. This is a both/and. To bring about real
change, we both have to highlight a
problem and make people in power uncomfortable, but we also have
to translate that into practical solutions and laws that can be
implemented."
"And for those who have been talking about protests, just
remember, this country was founded on protest. It is called the
American Revolution," he said. "And every step of progress in
this country, every expansion of freedom, every expression of our
deepest ideals, has been won through efforts that made the status
quo uncomfortable. And we should all be thankful for folks who
are willing in a peaceful, disciplined way to be out there making
a difference."
Obama said, "Now I want to speak directly to the young men and
women of
colour in this country who ... have witnessed too much violence
and too much death, and too often some of that violence has come
from folks who were supposed to be serving and protecting you.
[...] I want you to know that you matter. I want you to
know that your lives matter, that your dreams matter."
He said young people have "the power to make things better"
and "have helped to make the entire country feel as if this is
something that has got to change."
"I hope that you also feel hopeful, even as you may feel
angry," he said. "You have communicated a sense of urgency that
is as powerful and transformative as anything I have seen in
recent years."
"In a lot of ways, what has happened over the last several
weeks is challenges and structural problems here in the United
States have been thrown into high relief," Obama said. "They are
the
outcomes not just of the immediate moments in time, but they are
the result of a long history of slavery and Jim Crow and
redlining and institutionalized racism that too often have been
the plague, the original sin of our society."
He closed the speech with a direct call to the mostly
young people who have recently taken to the streets: "Keep
working. And stay hopeful."
"This is a moment, and we have had moments like this before
where people are paying attention. And that doesn't mean that
everything will get solved, so don't get disheartened, because
this is a marathon, not a sprint. But the fact that people are
paying attention provides an opportunity to educate, activate,
mobilize and act," Obama said. "And I hope we are able to seize
this moment."
Website:
www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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