The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
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. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.
And as I listened to him explain why he'd enlisted, the absolute faith he had in our country and its leaders, his devotion to duty and service, I thought this young man was all that any of us might hope for in a child. But my journey is part of a larger journey - one shared by all who've ever sought to apply the values of their faith to our society. And it's a testament to what we can achieve when good people with strong convictions stand up for their beliefs. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.
Louis, and thousands more like her, who has the grades, has the drive, has the will, but doesn't have the money to go to college. Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach our kids to learn - they know that parents have to teach, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.
Back home, my grandmother raised their baby and went to work on a bomber assembly line. He was a good-looking kid, six two, six three, clear eyed, with an easy smile. No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point. In ancient times and in our times, Muslim communities have been at the forefront of innovation and education.
As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb, in the good neighbors who take a stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims.
Thank you, and God bless America.