“It makes a mockery of our economy when black women make 30 few cents for every dollar a white man earns”, Obama said. He said they have been part of every great movement in American history, and that every American has benefited as a result.
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While advocating for the placement of a Black woman on the $10 bill, President Obama also acknowledged that the symbolic act wouldn’t be enough when it comes to wage gaps.
He urged a raise in the minimum wage and expanding paid leave, among other initiatives, to help minority women get ahead.
But on Saturday, with the campaign to succeed him in full swing, Obama was certain to face some competition for attention at the gathering sponsored by a major Democratic Party constituency group.
He also praised the recent push to put a black woman’s picture on the $10 bill but said the move should be accompanied by progress on equal pay.
Vice President Joe Biden was attending a caucus prayer breakfast before heading to his home in Delaware for the weekend.
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.
Among those in the audience was Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
He also swiped at conservatives who blamed him for animosity toward police officers.
“Our law enforcement officers do outstanding work in an incredibly hard and risky job”, he said during the Congressional Black Caucus awards dinner in Washington.
“I want to repeat because somehow this never shows up on Fox News”, Obama said. “And on that day, when we were celebrating that incredible march in Selma, I had Ms. Amelia’s hand in one of my hands, but Michelle had Sasha’s hand, and my mother-in-law had Malia’s hand, and it was a chain across generations”.
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Robinson was posthumously presented one of the five Phoenix awards along with the Rev. Dr. William Barber II, who was instrumental in the release of the Wilmington Ten; Fred Gray, civil rights attorney for Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; civil right’s activist Juanita Abernathy, who helped organize and lead the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama (1965-1966) and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
