Political Quotes

“the events of the last few months--what we have been seeing in the streets and the protests and all the issues that surround that--I think, have forced the country to grapple with our history on the issue of race and, in particular, what we teach young Americans about what that means and how it fits in the broader story of America. Is America, in fact, a nation founded on racism, one that makes our very founding and its principles almost irredeemable? It is an important question. You can't ask Americans or any generation to sacrifice or defend a nation they believe is so deeply flawed, so it is one that I think we have to talk about. This country was founded in the year 1776, and it was founded by this declaration that all men are created equal; that your rights come from God, from your Creator. Now, we take those words for granted today. They were extraordinarily radical ideas 244 years ago. Up until that time, every person on Earth was told that your rights are whatever the sovereign allowed you to have, whatever the King allowed you to have. You didn't have any rights that were natural to you. So the very principle itself was pretty radical. The problem is that, from the very beginning, many people, including those who put their name on that document, and our laws at the time did not reflect that founding principle, and our story can largely be summarized as the 244-year journey to more fully live up to the promises made at our founding.…”