into account everything that s happening on the immigration front. incredible challenges that we have in ensuring that latinos are also receiving equal treatment under the law. if it is a relay race then the next person grabbing this baton better pay attention to this issue. i like that you immediately started to expand the definition of civil rights. raul, i want to come to you in part on this because i think if we think about civil rights exclusively about african-american politics, then the president has a strong, but certainly not an lbj level record, right, on this. but if we think about civil rights more broadly, particularly around lgbt issues, this presidency, the years of this presidency will be remembered as expansive. right. on not solely because of policies he himself passed but a new environment which he helps to create. and i wonder if when you re an elected official you have to not be a member of the group for which you are expanding the rights. like being the so
must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry, he really meant all of us, including hi , himself, right? so this suggests that that same tempered notion that president obama was giving us, when we look back at lbj, we see these great legislative applicators but it is always still just partial. it s never fully there. definitely. that s the matter of legislation. you can only take it to a certain point. behavior has to change, and that behavior has changed in many, many ways. obama symbolizes so many things of the civil rights movement. now the question is for us in this diverse country that we now live in, given all the challenges we currently have, how do we translate those promises into today s realities. and one way that we might be able to do it would be through the vote, which of course we know is at the moment being challenged. so when we come back, president obama minces absolutely no words in his friday speech that drilled the gop. seriously, you must go read adam
then, the next key ingredient in the obama formula, when the president makes his trademark turn from a specific story, lyndon johnson s in this case, to a broader theory of democracy and government by the people. it s always my favorite part because no other president has so eloquently and routinely included social movements in his telling of the american story. here president obama reminds us that lbj could act only because he was compelled to act by the people. we recall the countless unheralded americans, black and white, students and scholars, preachers, and housekeepers, whose names are etched not on monuments but in the hearts of their loved ones and in the fabric of the country that they helped to change. okay. so at this point close followers of the president s speeches know what is coming, right? it s what follows the mention of the elderly anna nixon cooper
point that democrats, if you re interested in moving this conversation forward, you need to do a lot more and not just put it on the republicans and say they re the ones trying to limit the vote. we re going to spend an hour on this tomorrow because this is a central issue, but hearing the president just refuse to for him to frame it as a partisan issue, for him to frame it standings there at national action network, but let me ask one thing about this. would lbj been invited to speak at sclc. is there a capture of the movements that are meant to be pressing presidents and lawmakers when the presidents and lawmakers are president does that make sense? it does. but thank god if president johnson, the exposing we re giving this topic is enormous and well deserved. yes, he was pumped up, look at the audience. pumped up, look who introduced him. but he s speaking clearly what
question, which is immigration and the extent to which civil rights as a central issue of our day right now is about immigration. we re going to ask this question, why is there a hunger strike in fronting of the white house right now. half a century later, the law s lbj passed are now as fundamental to our conception of ourselves and our democracy as the constitution. and the bill of rights. they are foundational. an essential piece of the american character. did you knowe vital nutrients as you age? [ male announcer ] that s why there s ocuvite to help replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. ocuvite. help protect your eye health.