President Obama honored the black women Saturday for their part in helping shape American democracy, and labelled them “the thinkers and the doers” behind the Civil Rights Movement half a century ago.
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The president allocated most of his pitch to minority women and called them “the foot soldiers” in the civil-rights movement. “They strategized boycotts. Organized marches”, he said.
“There is no contradiction between us caring about our law enforcement officers and also making sure that our laws are applied fairly”, President Obama said.
President Obama on Saturday dedicated his keynote speech at the Phoenix Awards – a banquet to culminate the 45th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference – to the sacrifices Black women have historically made to advance this great nation, even without much recognition.
He even invoked his wife, Michelle, as an example of the attitudes about black women that he said persist.
He urged a raise in the minimum wage and expanding paid leave, among other initiatives, to help minority women get ahead. But with the campaign to succeed him in full swing, he had some competition for attention at Saturday’s gathering sponsored by a major Democratic Party constituency group.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton planned to attend the dinner at Washington’s convention center – to mingle, but not give a speech.
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Obama says he will work with Congress and CBC members in the coming months on legislation to address what he says are unjust sentencing laws. I just want to repeat that because somehow this never gets on television. “All the time. Our law enforcement officers do outstanding work in an incredibly hard and risky job”. “We appreciate them and we love them”. We want to protect our police officers – we’ll do a better job doing it if our communities can feel confident that they are being treated fairly. She celebrated the march’s 50th anniversary earlier this year by crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, while holding hands with Obama.
