In Cuba, Obama Highlights America’s ‘Legacy of Slavery and Segregation’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

"We do have too much money in American politics, but in America, it's still possible for somebody like me, a child who was raised by a single mom, a child of mixed race who did not have a lot of money to pursue and achieve the highest office in the land. That's what's possible in America. [ Applause ]  We have do have challenges with racial biases in our communities and criminal justice system and our society. The legacy of slavery and segregation. But the fact that we have open debates within America's own democracy is what allows us to get better. In 1959 the year the that my father moved to America, it was illegal for him to marry my mother who was white in many American states. When I first started school, we were still struggling to desegregate schools across the American south. But people organized. They protested. They debated these issues. They challenged government officials, and because of those protests, and because of those debates and because of popular mobilization, I'm able to stand here as and African American and as the president of the United States."