The United States, as evidenced by electing its first African-American president, has come a long way, President Obama told the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights organization Thursday, but he noted that there is still a long way to go. “What we celebrate tonight is not simply the journey the NAACP has traveled, but the journey that we, as Americans, have traveled over the past 100 years,” Obama told a packed audience at the group’s century anniversary. “Even as we inherit extraordinary progress that cannot be denied; even as we marvel at the courage and determination of so many plain folks – we know that too many barriers still remain.” He pointed out that “the pain of discrimination is still felt in America,” saying that racial and other barriers to success would only be overcome by the same diligence and commitment expended during the Civil Rights Era. “What is required to overcome today’s barriers is the same as was needed then,” he said. “The same commitment. The same sense of urgency. The same sense of sacrifice. The same willingness to do our part for ourselves and one another that has always defined America at its best.” And the Obama administration is doing its part to help progress continue, he said. “These are barriers we are beginning to tear down by rewarding work with an expanded tax credit; making housing more affordable; and giving ex-offenders a second chance. These are barriers that we are targeting through our White House Office on Urban Affairs, and through Promise Neighborhoods that build on Geoffrey Canada’s success with the Harlem Children’s Zone,” he said. “When it comes to higher education, we are making college and advanced training more affordable, and strengthening community colleges that are a gateway to so many with an initiative that will prepare students not only to earn a degree but find a job when they graduate; an initiative that will help us meet the goal I have set of leading the world in college degrees by 2020.” As for the economy, which is drawing increasing concern among lawmakers and the overall public, the president said that his Cabinet has been trying to “lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity.” He said that “one pillar of this new foundation is health insurance reform that cuts costs, makes quality health coverage affordable for all, and closes health care disparities in the process. Another pillar is energy reform that makes clean energy profitable, freeing America from the grip of foreign oil, putting people to work upgrading low-income homes, and creating jobs that cannot be outsourced.”

TAGS: convention, NAACP, obama, speech

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