But you also know that government alone does not have the answers we seek. If we are going tore-stitch the fraying fabric of our communities, all Americans are going to have to step up.There are laws we should pass and programs we should fund and fights we should wage andwin.
But so much of the real work is going to come around kitchen tables and over bedtime stories,around office watercoolers and in factory break rooms, at quiet moments in school and at work,in honest conversations between parents and children, between friends and neighbors.
Because fundamentally, this is about the habits of our hearts, how we treat each other, how welearn to see the humanity in those around us, no matter what they look like, how theyworship, or who they love. Most of all, it's about how we teach our children to see thathumanity too.
Andy Young is here, and I want to tell a story about him because I think it's as timely today asit was all those years ago.
You know, at the end of the 1950s the South was beginning to find its way into the moderneconomy. It wasn't easy. There were determined leaders in both government and businessthat wanted to raise the standard of living and recruit businesses, make life better.
When the closing of Central High School in Little Rock happened, and President Eisenhower hadto send in federal troops to keep peace, that sent a message of urgency but also opportunity.
I remember Andy coming to Little Rock some years later, and saying that in Atlanta when folkssaw what was going on in Little Rock and saw some of the continuing resistance to enforcingcivil rights laws, opening up closed doors, creating the chance for Blacks and whites to studytogether, to work together, to live together, Atlanta made a different decision.
The leadership of Atlanta came together, looked out across the South and said, "Some place inthe South is really going to make it big. We need to be that place." And they adopted a slogan, "the city too busy to hate."
Well, we need to be cities, states and a country too busy to hate. We need to get about thework of tearing down the barriers and the obstacles, roll up our sleeves together, look at what'sworking across our country, and then share it and scale it.
As all of us reeled from the news in Charleston this past week, a friend of mine shared thisobservation with a number of us. Think about the hearts and values of those men and womenof Mother Emanuel, he said.
"A dozen people gathered to pray. They're in their most intimate of communities and astranger who doesn't look or dress like them joins in. They don't judge. They don't question.They don't reject. They just welcome. If he's there, he must need something: prayer, love,community, something. During their last hour, nine people of faith welcomed a stranger inprayer and fellowship."
For those of us who are Christians, we remember the words of the scripture: "I was hungry andyou gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomedme."
That's humanity at its best. That's also America at its best. And that's the spirit we need tonurture our lives and our families and our communities.
I know it's not usual for somebody running for president to say what we need more of in thiscountry is love and kindness. But that's exactly what we need more of.
We need to be not only too busy to hate but too caring, too loving to ignore, to walk away, togive up.
Part of the reason I'm running for president is I love this country. I am so grateful for each andevery blessing and opportunity I've been given.
I did not pick my parents. I did not decide before I arrived that I would live in a middle classfamily in the middle of America, be given the opportunity to go to good public schools withdedicated teachers and a community that supported me and all of the other kids.
I came of age at a time when barriers were falling for women, another benefit.
I came of age as the Civil Rights movement was beginning to not only change laws but changehearts.
I've seen the expansion of not just rights but opportunities to so many of our fellow men andwomen who had been left out and left behind.
But we have unfinished business. And I am absolutely confident and optimistic we can getthat done.
I stand here ready to work with each and every one of you to support your efforts, to stand withyou, to put the task of moving beyond the past at the head of our national agenda. I'm excitedabout what we can accomplish together.
I thank you for what you've already done and I look forward to all that you will be doing in thefuture.
Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America.