President Obama Gives the Civil Rights Speech of the Decade

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President Obama demonstrated the powerful politics of optimism today at the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. This is also the first time I’ve ever caught him in a big fib.

The President gave an interview to CBS in which he warned, “It won’t be as good as the speech 50 years ago… I just want to get that out there early.” All politicians do their best to lower expectations and Obama had huge expectations riding on today, but that doesn’t change the fact that his speech was, for civil rights, the speech of the decade.

It wasn’t that the President’s speech was moving, though it was. It wasn’t that he has incredible oratory skills, though he has. It was that he chose this moment, in his second term, to go out on a limb to refocus the civil rights movement at a time when it’s easy to be discouraged and demoralized.

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It was a speech of searing optimism combined with the politics of pragmatic, sequential change. He explained, “What King described was the dream of every American.” He focused our efforts on positive thoughts and actions, saying “Change does not come from Washington, but to Washington.”

People mock Obama’s “hope”, but without hope, there is no change. That’s why they mock it. Obama reminded us that King gave hope to millions:

We rightly and best remember Dr. King’s soaring oratory that day, how he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions, how he offered a salvation path for oppressed and oppressors alike. His words belong to the ages, possessing a power and prophecy unmatched in our time.

He reminded us of the power of optimism and brotherhood (full transcript here):

They had every reason to lash out in anger or resign themselves to a bitter fate.

And yet they chose a different path. In the face of hatred, they prayed for their tormentors. In the face of violence, they stood up and sat in with the moral force of nonviolence. Willingly, they went to jail to protest unjust laws, their cells swelling with the sound of freedom songs. A lifetime of indignities had taught them that no man can take away the dignity and grace that God grants us. They had learned through hard experience what Frederick Douglas once taught: that freedom is not given; it must be won through struggle and discipline, persistence and faith.

That was the spirit young people like John Lewis brought that day.

He reminded us that freedom and liberty are not abstract achievements, but quantifiable in equal opportunity, economic justice, legal justice, and more. And he reminded us that our work is not done yet, “To secure the gains this country has made requires constant vigilance, not complacency.”

“The young are unconstrained by habits of fear … They dared to dream different.”

The President urged us to validate the faith of those who came before us, who sacrificed so much for the changes they wrought.

To dismiss the magnitude of this progress, to suggest, as some sometimes do, that little has changed — that dishonors the courage and the sacrifice of those who paid the price to march in those years. Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, Martin Luther King Jr., they did not die in vain. Their victory was great.

He reminded us that the spirit of brotherhood is the only way to get there. He told us what those people 50 years ago changed, so that we could imagine what we can change today:


And because they kept marching, America changed. Because they marched, the civil rights law was passed. Because they marched, the voting rights law was signed. Because they marched, doors of opportunity and education swung open so their daughters and sons could finally imagine a life for themselves beyond washing somebody else’s laundry or shining somebody else’s shoes. Because they marched, city councils changed and state legislatures changed and Congress changed and, yes, eventually the White House changed.

Because they marched, America became more free and more fair, not just for African-Americans but for women and Latinos, Asians and Native Americans, for Catholics, Jews and Muslims, for gays, for Americans with disabilities.

America changed for you and for me.

These are the thoughts of a brilliant leader, who understands as Martin Luther King Jr did, the power of unified positive action.

These are people, King, Obama, Lewis, and more, who frighten those who don’t really want equal rights for everyone — just as positive, pragmatic and determined spirits usually frighten the dark side of human nature.


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