President Obama's Powerful Selma Speech on Race and Civil Rights: President Obama Delivers His Most Profound Speech Ever At Selma Anniversary. Barack Obama address on civil rights in Selma, Alabama – full speech: 'Latinos, Asians, Gays, Disabled Walked Through Doors Civil Rights Leaders Opened,' We’re the Slaves Who Built the White House'. President speaks at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, scene of infamous ‘Bloody Sunday’ of civil rights movement 50 years ago: We're the gay Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York just as blood ran down this bridge Obama: US Racial History 'Casts A Long Shadow' (Sky News) President Barack Obama has said that America's racial history "still casts a long shadow" despite 50 years of progress. Mr Obama was speaking at an event in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 50th anniversary of marches that took place to protest against the lack of voting rights. 'We just need to open our eyes, and ears, and hearts, to know that this nation's racial history still casts its long shadow upon us,' he said. 'We know the march is not yet over, the race is not yet won, and that reaching that blessed destination where we are judged by the content of our character - requires admitting as much.' In March 1965, police in Selma beat back crowds attempting to march to the state capital Montgomery to protest over the inability of black people to register to vote. The violent images broadcast on national television helped lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act after protesters were joined by Dr Martin Luther King. The city has been propelled into the global spotlight again this year with the release of the movie Selma and the controversy over its shortage of Oscar nominations. The anniversary comes with America digesting the report from the Department of Justice detailing racial bias in Ferguson, a city which saw violent protests over the killing of an unarmed black man by a white police officer last summer. Mr Obama joined civil rights marchers of 50 years ago at the bridge where police brutality on "Bloody Sunday" galvanised America's opposition to racial oppression in the South. Thousands from across the US gathered at the riverside town for commemorations. Mr Obama said the civil rights march of 1965 was a global inspiration for those fighting for freedom. "From the streets of Tunis to the Maidan in Ukraine, this generation of young people can draw strength from this place, where the powerless could change the world's greatest superpower, and push their leaders to expand the boundaries of freedom," he said "Look at our history. We are Lewis and Clark and pioneers who brave the unfamiliar. Followed by a stampede of farmers and minors. And entrepreneurs and hucksters. That's our spirit. That's who we are. Women who could do as much as any man and then some. And we're Susan B. Anthony and shook the system until the law reflected the truth. That is our character. We're the immigrants who stowed away on ships to reach these shores. The huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Soviet defectors, the lost boys of Sudan. We're the hopeful strivers who cross the Rio Grande because we want our kids to know a better life. That's how we came to be. 'We're the slaves who built the White House. And the economy of the south. We're the ranch hands and cowboys who open up the west. The countless labors who lay rail and skyscrapers and organize for workers' rights. We're the fresh face gis who fought to liberate a continent. And we're the Tuskegee airmen and the Japanese Americans who fought for this country, even as their own liberty had been denied. We're the firefighters who rushed into those buildings on 9/11. The volunteers who signed up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. We're the gay Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York just as blood ran down this bridge. We are storytellers, writers, poets, artists who despise hypocrisy and give voice to the voiceless and tell truths that need to be told. We're the inventors of gospel and jazz and blues. Blue grass and country and hip-hop and rock 'N' roll and our very own sound with all the sweet sorrow and reckless joy of freedom. We are Jackie Robinson enduring scorn and pitches coming straight to his head and stealing home in the world series anyway. We are the people Langston Hughes wrote of to build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how. We are the people Emerson who for truth and honor sake stood long. Never so tired so long as we can see far enough. That's what America is. Not stock photos or airbrushed history or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American than others. We respect the past, but we don't pine for the past. We don't fear the future. We grab for it!'

• published: 09 Mar 2015
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