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And they, too, had big dreams for their daughter. But we also know that government initiatives are not enough. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretense of liberalism. On economic development, we will create a new corps of business volunteers to partner with counterparts in Muslim-majority countries. The issues that I have described will not be easy to address.
And yet, I know that, on this night, they look down on me with great pride. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation.
Because I've seen it. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words - within our borders, and around the world. The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world. The Holy Bible tells us, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
Today there are 12 million undocumented immigrants in America, most of them working in our communities, attending our churches, and contributing to our country. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us. And when one of his chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."
But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. We are the party of Kennedy. That is the responsibility we have to one another as human beings. The victims were innocent men, women and children from America and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody.
God bless you.