Remarks of President Obama at Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Dinner, as prepared by the White House:
Hello CBC! It is wonderful to be back with all of you. I know you’ve spent a good deal of time talking about what the future holds for the African American community, and the United States of America as a whole. I’ve been spending time thinking about that, too. And at this time of great challenge, one source of inspiration is the founding of the Congressional Black Caucus.
I want us all to take a moment and remember what was happening forty years ago when 13 black members of Congress decided to come together and form this caucus. It was 1969. More than a decade had passed since the Supreme Court decided Brown vs. Board of Education. It had been several years since Selma and Montgomery, since Dr. Martin Luther King told America of his dream, all culminating in the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
The founders of this caucus could look back and feel proud of the progress that had been made. They could feel confident that America was moving in the right direction. But they….
…knew they couldn’t afford to rest on their laurels. They couldn’t afford to get complacent. There were still too many inequalities to be eliminated. Too many injustices to be overturned. Too many wrongs to be righted.
That’s why the CBC was formed – to right those wrongs; to be the conscience of the Congress. And at your first dinner, the great actor and activist, Ossie Davis, said that America was at a crossroads. And he boiled down his message about what was needed going forward to a nice little phrase. He said, “It’s not the man, it’s the plan.”
***
Each and every time we’ve made epic change – from this country’s founding, to emancipation, to women’s suffrage, to workers’ rights – it hasn’t come from a man. It’s come from a plan. It’s come from a grassroots movement rallying around a cause. What made the Civil Rights Movement possible were foot soldiers like so many of you, sitting down at lunch counters and standing up for freedom. What made it possible for me to be here today are Americans throughout our history making our union more equal, making our union more just, making our union more perfect.
That’s what we need again. I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, and your workplaces, to your churches, and barbershops, and beauty shops. Tell them we have more work to do. Tell them we can’t wait to organize. Tell them that the time for action is now, and that if each and every person in this country who knows what’s at stake steps up to the plate; if we’re willing to rise to this moment, like we’ve always done before, then together we’ll write our own destiny once more. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
Read the full speech here.
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