Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this weekend the doors will open on a new American treasure. The National Museum of African American History and Culture tells the story of a people whose toil and genius helped create America and whose contributions in every walk of life have enriched our Nation beyond measure. The museum stands majestically on the National Mall, at the foot of the Washington Monument. If you stand at the museum's entrance and look in one direction you see the Lincoln Memorial, where Marian Anderson sang and Dr. King spoke of his dream for America. Look in the other direction and you can see a plot of land where, just several generations ago, men, women and children were sold like chattel--close enough to this Capitol that members of Congress could hear their anguished cries. Those stories and many, many more, are chronicled within the walls of this ambitious and long overdue museum. The National Museum of African American History and Culture represents America's first official attempt to tell the story of African Americans--a story that spans 600 years and stretches from the indignity and inhumanity of slavery to the long and still ongoing march for freedom that changed our Nation and our world. As one writer described it, the museum is ``a shifting mix of sadness and celebration.'' It is a record of brutal subjugation, racial violence, and discrimination--and it is the story of a resilient people who survived those horrors and created a rich and vibrant culture.…”