The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
I'm talking about something more substantial. But my personal story is not so unique. And when innocents in Bosnia and Darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our collective conscience. I know there are many - Muslim and non-Muslim - who question whether we can forge this new beginning.
If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. 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. That promise is our greatest inheritance. Meanwhile, the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world.
And they, too, had big dreams for their daughter. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election. But it is where we start. That promise is our greatest inheritance. But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.
They saw that I knew the Scriptures and that many of the values I held and that propelled me in my work were values they shared. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, "The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims." And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States.
Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama.
Thank you.