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His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. Meanwhile, the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time. I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming.
That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. "People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. For decades, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive. Around the world, we can turn dialogue into Interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action - whether it is combating malaria in Africa, or providing relief after a natural disaster.
The UCC is still listening. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
You know, a while back, I met a young man named Shamus [Seamus?] in a V.F.W. The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great - a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. But what the people heard instead - people of every creed and color, from every walk of life - is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That is why we plan to invest $1.5 billion each year over the next five years to partner with Pakistanis to build schools and hospitals, roads and businesses, and hundreds of millions to help those who have been displaced.
Thank you very much everybody.