REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE NAACP CENTENNIAL
CONVENTION
Hilton New York, New York
July 17, 2009
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. What an extraordinary
night, capping off an extraordinary week, capping off an extraordinary 100 years
at the NAACP. (Applause.)
So Chairman Bond, Brother Justice, I am so grateful to all of you for being
here. It's just good to be among friends. (Applause.)
It is an extraordinary honor to be here, in the city where the NAACP was formed,
to mark its centennial. What we celebrate tonight is not simply the journey the
NAACP has traveled, but the journey that we, as Americans, have traveled over
the past 100 years. (Applause.)
It's a journey that takes us back to a time before most of us were born, long
before the Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act, Brown v. Board of
Education; back to an America just a generation past slavery. It was a time when
Jim Crow was a way of life; when lynchings were all too common; when race riots
were shaking cities across a segregated land.
It was in this America where an Atlanta scholar named W.E.B. Du Bois --
(applause) -- a man of towering intellect and a fierce passion for justice,
sparked what became known as the Niagara movement; where reformers united, not
by color, but by cause; where an association was born that would, as its charter
says, promote equality and eradicate prejudice among citizens of the United
States.
From the beginning, these founders understood how change would come -- just as
King and all the civil rights giants did later. They understood that unjust laws
needed to be overturned; that legislation needed to be passed; and that
Presidents needed to be pressured into action. They knew that the stain of
slavery and the sin of segregation had to be lifted in the courtroom, and in the
legislature, and in the hearts and the minds of Americans.
They also knew that here, in America, change would have to come from the people.
It would come from people protesting lynchings, rallying against violence, all
those women who decided to walk instead of taking the bus, even though they were
tired after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry, looking after somebody
else's children. (Applause.) It would come from men and women of every age and
faith, and every race and region -- taking Greyhounds on Freedom Rides; sitting
down at Greensboro lunch counters; registering voters in rural Mississippi,
knowing they would be harassed, knowing they would be beaten, knowing that some
of them might never return.
Because of what they did, we are a more perfect union. Because Jim Crow laws
were overturned, black CEOs today run Fortune 500 companies. (Applause.) Because
civil rights laws were passed, black mayors, black governors, and members of
Congress served in places where they might once have been able [sic] not just to
vote but even take a sip of water. And because ordinary people did such
extraordinary things, because they made the civil rights movement their own,
even though there may not be a plaque or their names might not be in the history
books -- because of their efforts I made a little trip to Springfield, Illinois,
a couple years ago -- (applause) -- where Lincoln once lived, and race riots
once raged -- and began the journey that has led me to be here tonight as the
44th President of the United States of America. (Applause.)
Because of them I stand here tonight, on the shoulders of giants. And I'm here
to say thank you to those pioneers and thank you to the NAACP. (Applause.)
And yet, even as we celebrate the remarkable achievements of the past 100 years;
even as we inherit extraordinary progress that cannot be denied; even as we
marvel at the courage and determination of so many plain folk -- we know that
too many barriers still remain.
We know that even as our economic crisis batters Americans of all races, African
Americans are out of work more than just about anybody else -- a gap that's
widening here in New York City, as a detailed report this week by Comptroller
Bill Thompson laid out. (Applause.)
We know that even as spiraling health care costs crush families of all races,
African Americans are more likely to suffer from a host of diseases but less
likely to own health insurance than just about anybody else.
We know that even as we imprison more people of all races than any nation in the
world, an African American child is roughly five times as likely as a white
child to see the inside of a prison.
We know that even as the scourge of HIV/AIDS devastates nations abroad,
particularly in Africa, it is devastating the African American community here at
home with disproportionate force. We know these things. (Applause.)
These are some of the barriers of our time. They're very different from the
barriers faced by earlier generations. They're very different from the ones
faced when fire hoses and dogs were being turned on young marchers; when Charles
Hamilton Houston and a group of young Howard lawyers were dismantling
segregation case by case across the land.
But what's required today -- what's required to overcome today's barriers is the
same as what was needed then. The same commitment. The same sense of urgency.
The same sense of sacrifice. The same sense of community. The same willingness
to do our part for ourselves and one another that has always defined America at
its best and the African American experience at its best. (Applause.)
And so the question is, where do we direct our efforts? What steps do we take to
overcome these barriers? How do we move forward in the next 100 years?
The first thing we need to do is make real the words of the NAACP charter and
eradicate prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination among citizens of the United
States. (Applause.) I understand there may be a temptation among some to think
that discrimination is no longer a problem in 2009. And I believe that overall,
there probably has never been less discrimination in America than there is
today. I think we can say that.
But make no mistake: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America.
(Applause.) By African American women paid less for doing the same work as
colleagues of a different color and a different gender. (Laughter.) By Latinos
made to feel unwelcome in their own country. (Applause.) By Muslim Americans
viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to their God.
(Applause.) By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked,
still denied their rights. (Applause.)
On the 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, discrimination cannot stand --
not on account of color or gender; how you worship or who you love. Prejudice
has no place in the United States of America. That's what the NAACP stands for.
That's what the NAACP will continue to fight for as long as it takes.
(Applause.)
But we also know that prejudice and discrimination -- at least the most blatant
types of prejudice and discrimination -- are not even the steepest barriers to
opportunity today. The most difficult barriers include structural inequalities
that our nation's legacy of discrimination has left behind; inequalities still
plaguing too many communities and too often the object of national neglect.
These are barriers we are beginning to tear down one by one -- by rewarding work
with an expanded tax credit; by making housing more affordable; by giving
ex-offenders a second chance. (Applause.) These are barriers we're targeting
through our White House Office on Urban Affairs, through programs like Promise
Neighborhoods that builds on Geoffrey Canada's success with the Harlem
Children's Zone -- (applause) -- that foster a comprehensive approach to ending
poverty by putting all children on a pathway to college, and giving them the
schooling and after-school support that they need to get there. (Applause.)
I think all of us understand that our task of reducing these structural
inequalities has been made more difficult by the state and structure of our
broader economy; an economy that for the last decade has been fueled by a cycle
of boom and bust; an economy where the rich got really, really rich, but
ordinary folks didn't see their incomes or their wages go up; an economy built
on credit cards, shady mortgage loans; an economy built not on a rock, but on
sand.
That's why my administration is working so hard not only to create and save jobs
in the short-term, not only to extend unemployment insurance and help for people
who have lost their health care in this crisis, not just to stem the immediate
economic wreckage, but to lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity that
will put opportunity within the reach of not just African Americans, but all
Americans. All Americans. (Applause.) Of every race. Of every creed. From every
region of the country. (Applause.) We want everybody to participate in the
American Dream. That's what the NAACP is all about. (Applause.)
Now, one pillar of this new foundation is health insurance for everybody.
(Applause.) Health insurance reform that cuts costs and makes quality health
coverage affordable for all, and it closes health care disparities in the
process. Another pillar is energy reform that makes clean energy profitable,
freeing America from the grip of foreign oil; putting young people to work
upgrading low-income homes, weatherizing, and creating jobs that can't be
outsourced. Another pillar is financial reform with consumer protections to
crackdown on mortgage fraud and stop predatory lenders from targeting black and
Latino communities all across the country. (Applause.)
All these things will make America stronger and more competitive. They will
drive innovation, they will create jobs, they will provide families with more
security. And yet, even if we do all that, the African American community will
still fall behind in the United States and the United States will fall behind in
the world unless we do a far better job than we have been doing of educating our
sons and daughters. (Applause.)
I hope you don't mind -- I want to go into a little detail here about education.
(Applause.) In the 21st century -- when so many jobs will require a bachelor's
degree or more, when countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us
tomorrow -- a world-class education is a prerequisite for success.
There's no two ways about it. There's no way to avoid it. You know what I'm
talking about. There's a reason the story of the civil rights movement was
written in our schools. There's a reason Thurgood Marshall took up the cause of
Linda Brown. There's a reason why the Little Rock Nine defied a governor and a
mob. It's because there is no stronger weapon against inequality and no better
path to opportunity than an education that can unlock a child's God-given
potential. (Applause.)
And yet, more than half a century after Brown v. Board, the dream of a
world-class education is still being deferred all across the country. African
American students are lagging behind white classmates in reading and math -- an
achievement gap that is growing in states that once led the way in the civil
rights movement. Over half of all African American students are dropping out of
school in some places. There are overcrowded classrooms, and crumbling schools,
and corridors of shame in America filled with poor children -- not just black
children, brown and white children as well.
The state of our schools is not an African American problem; it is an American
problem. (Applause.) Because if black and brown children cannot compete, then
America cannot compete. (Applause.) And let me say this, if Al Sharpton, Mike
Bloomberg, and Newt Gingrich can agree that we need to solve the education
problem, then that's something all of America can agree we can solve.
(Applause.) Those guys came into my office. (Laughter.) Just sitting in the Oval
Office -- I kept on doing a double-take. (Laughter and applause.) So that's a
sign of progress and it is a sign of the urgency of the education problem.
(Applause.) All of us can agree that we need to offer every child in this
country -- every child --
AUDIENCE: Amen!
THE PRESIDENT: Got an "Amen corner" back there -- (applause) -- every child --
every child in this country the best education the world has to offer from
cradle through a career.
That's our responsibility as leaders. That's the responsibility of the United
States of America. And we, all of us in government, have to work to do our part
by not only offering more resources, but also demanding more reform. Because
when it comes to education, we got to get past this whole paradigm, this
outdated notion that somehow it's just money; or somehow it's just reform, but
no money -- and embrace what Dr. King called the "both-and" philosophy. We need
more money and we need more reform. (Applause.)
When it comes to higher education we're making college and advanced training
more affordable, and strengthening community colleges that are the gateway to so
many with an initiative -- (applause) -- that will prepare students not only to
earn a degree, but to find a job when they graduate; an initiative that will
help us meet the goal I have set of leading the world in college degrees by
2020. We used to rank number one in college graduates. Now we are in the middle
of the pack. And since we are seeing more and more African American and Latino
youth in our population, if we are leaving them behind we cannot achieve our
goal, and America will fall further behind -- and that is not a future that I
accept and that is not a future that the NAACP is willing to accept. (Applause.)
We're creating a Race to the Top fund that will reward states and public school
districts that adopt 21st century standards and assessments. We're creating
incentives for states to promote excellent teachers and replace bad ones --
(applause) -- because the job of a teacher is too important for us to accept
anything less than the best. (Applause.)
We also have to explore innovative approaches such as those being pursued here
in New York City; innovations like Bard High School Early College and Medgar
Evers College Preparatory School that are challenging students to complete high
school and earn a free associate's degree or college credit in just four years.
(Applause.)
And we should raise the bar when it comes to early learning programs. It's not
enough just to have a babysitter. We need our young people stimulated and
engaged and involved. (Applause.) We need our -- our folks involved in child
development to understand the latest science. Today, some early learning
programs are excellent. Some are mediocre. And some are wasting what studies
show are by far a child's most formative years.
That's why I've issued a challenge to America's governors: If you match the
success of states like Pennsylvania and develop an effective model for early
learning; if you focus reform on standards and results in early learning
programs; if you demonstrate how you will prepare the lowest income children to
meet the highest standards of success -- then you can compete for an Early
Learning Challenge Grant that will help prepare all our children to enter
kindergarten all ready to learn. (Applause.)
So these are some of the laws we're passing. These are some of the policies we
are enacting. We are busy in Washington. Folks in Congress are getting a little
tuckered out. (Laughter.) But I'm telling them -- I'm telling them we can't
rest, we've got a lot of work to do. The American people are counting on us.
(Applause.) These are some of the ways we're doing our part in government to
overcome the inequities, the injustices, the barriers that still exist in our
country.
But all these innovative programs and expanded opportunities will not, in and of
themselves, make a difference if each of us, as parents and as community
leaders, fail to do our part by encouraging excellence in our children.
(Applause.) Government programs alone won't get our children to the Promised
Land. We need a new mind set, a new set of attitudes -- because one of the most
durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way we've internalized
a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so
little from the world and from themselves.
We've got to say to our children, yes, if you're African American, the odds of
growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor
neighborhood, you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does
not have to face. But that's not a reason to get bad grades -- (applause) --
that's not a reason to cut class -- (applause) -- that's not a reason to give up
on your education and drop out of school. (Applause.) No one has written your
destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands -- you cannot forget that. That's
what we have to teach all of our children. No excuses. (Applause.) No excuses.
You get that education, all those hardships will just make you stronger, better
able to compete. Yes we can. (Applause.)
To parents -- to parents, we can't tell our kids to do well in school and then
fail to support them when they get home. (Applause.) You can't just contract out
parenting. For our kids to excel, we have to accept our responsibility to help
them learn. That means putting away the Xbox -- (applause) -- putting our kids
to bed at a reasonable hour. (Applause.) It means attending those parent-teacher
conferences and reading to our children and helping them with their homework.
(Applause.)
And by the way, it means we need to be there for our neighbor's sons and
daughters. (Applause.) We need to go back to the time, back to the day when we
parents saw somebody, saw some kid fooling around and -- it wasn't your child,
but they'll whup you anyway. (Laughter and applause.) Or at least they'll tell
your parents -- the parents will. You know. (Laughter.) That's the meaning of
community. That's how we can reclaim the strength and the determination and the
hopefulness that helped us come so far; helped us make a way out of no way.
It also means pushing our children to set their sights a little bit higher. They
might think they've got a pretty good jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our
kids can't all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne. (Applause.) I want them
aspiring to be scientists and engineers -- (applause) -- doctors and teachers --
(applause) -- not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme
Court Justice. (Applause.) I want them aspiring to be the President of the
United States of America. (Applause.)
I want their horizons to be limitless. I don't -- don't tell them they can't do
something. Don't feed our children with a sense of -- that somehow because of
their race that they cannot achieve.
Yes, government must be a force for opportunity. Yes, government must be a force
for equality. But ultimately, if we are to be true to our past, then we also
have to seize our own future, each and every day.
And that's what the NAACP is all about. The NAACP was not founded in search of a
handout. The NAACP was not founded in search of favors. The NAACP was founded on
a firm notion of justice; to cash the promissory note of America that says all
of our children, all God's children, deserve a fair chance in the race of life.
(Applause.)
It's a simple dream, and yet one that all too often has been denied -- and is
still being denied to so many Americans. It's a painful thing, seeing that dream
denied. I remember visiting a Chicago school in a rough neighborhood when I was
a community organizer, and some of the children gathered 'round me. And I
remember thinking how remarkable it was that all of these children seemed so
full of hope, despite being born into poverty, despite being delivered, in some
cases, into addiction, despite all the obstacles they were already facing -- you
could see that spark in their eyes. They were the equal of children anywhere.
And I remember the principal of the school telling me that soon that sparkle
would begin to dim, that things would begin to change; that soon, the laughter
in their eyes would begin to fade; that soon, something would shut off inside,
as it sunk in -- because kids are smarter than we give them credit for -- as it
sunk in that their hopes would not come to pass -- not because they weren't
smart enough, not because they weren't talented enough, not because of anything
about them inherently, but because, by accident of birth, they had not received
a fair chance in life.
I know what can happen to a child who doesn't have that chance. But I also know
what can happen to a child that does. I was raised by a single mom. I didn't
come from a lot of wealth. I got into my share of trouble as a child. My life
could have easily taken a turn for the worse. When I drive through Harlem or I
drive through the South Side of Chicago and I see young men on the corners, I
say, there but for the grace of God go I. (Applause.) They're no less gifted
than me. They're no less talented than me.
But I had some brakes. That mother of mine, she gave me love; she pushed me, she
cared about my education; she took no lip; she taught me right from wrong.
Because of her, I had a chance to make the most of my abilities. I had the
chance to make the most of my opportunities. I had the chance to make the most
of life.
The same story holds true for Michelle. The same story holds true for so many of
you. And I want all the other Barack Obamas out there, and all the other
Michelle Obamas out there -- (applause) -- to have the same chance -- the chance
that my mother gave me; that my education gave me; that the United States of
America has given me. That's how our union will be perfected and our economy
rebuilt. That is how America will move forward in the next 100 years.
And we will move forward. This I know -- for I know how far we have come. Some,
you saw, last week in Ghana, Michelle and I took Malia and Sasha and my
mother-in-law to Cape Coast Castle, in Ghana. Some of you may have been there.
This is where captives were once imprisoned before being auctioned; where,
across an ocean, so much of the African American experience began.
We went down into the dungeons where the captives were held. There was a church
above one of the dungeons -- which tells you something about saying one thing
and doing another. (Applause.) I was -- we walked through the "Door Of No
Return." I was reminded of all the pain and all the hardships, all the
injustices and all the indignities on the voyage from slavery to freedom.
But I was reminded of something else. I was reminded that no matter how bitter
the rod, how stony the road, we have always persevered. (Applause.) We have not
faltered, nor have we grown weary. As Americans, we have demanded, and strived
for, and shaped a better destiny. And that is what we are called on to do once
more. NAACP, it will not be easy. It will take time. Doubts may rise and hopes
may recede.
But if John Lewis could brave Billy clubs to cross a bridge -- (applause) --
then I know young people today can do their part and lift up our community.
(Applause.)
If Emmet Till's uncle, Mose Wright, could summon the courage to testify against
the men who killed his nephew, I know we can be better fathers and better
brothers and better mothers and sisters in our own families. (Applause.)
If three civil rights workers in Mississippi -- black, white, Christian and Jew,
city-born and country-bred -- could lay down their lives in freedom's cause, I
know we can come together to face down the challenges of our own time.
(Applause.) We can fix our schools -- (applause) -- we can heal our sick, we can
rescue our youth from violence and despair. (Applause.)
And 100 years from now, on the 200th anniversary of the NAACP -- (applause) --
let it be said that this generation did its part; that we too ran the race; that
full of faith that our dark past has taught us, full of the hope that the
present has brought us -- (applause) -- we faced, in our lives and all across
this nation, the rising sun of a new day begun. (Applause.)
Thank you, God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)