Their faith was questioned. Their lives were threatened, their patriotism challenged. And yet what could be more American than what happened in this place?
Editor's note · Context
Barack Obama reflects on the challenges faced by civil rights activists and their patriotism.
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I think when you understand the complexities of America and the contradictions of America, I don’t think it makes you love it less. I think it makes you love it more.
In forming our union, the founders fell terribly short of the Declaration's promise, leaving slavery intact, allowing states to restrict the franchise to white men who owned property.
We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse…
The essence of Prop. 50 is to say that if you are going to play that game, then we are going to try to counteract that abuse of the system.





