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Quote by Barack Obama

“Does that mean that all vestiges of past discrimination would be eliminated, that the income gap or the wealth gap or the education gap [between Afro-Americans and white] would be erased in five years or 10 years? Probably not, and so this is obviously a discussion we've had before when you talk about something like reparations.”

Quote by Barack Obama

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Barack Obama, born on August 4, 1961, served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama's presidency was marked by significant achievements, including the Affordable Care Act and the normalization of relations with Cuba. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. more

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“Theoretically, you can make, obviously, a powerful argument that centuries of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination are the primary cause for all those gaps. That those were wrongs done to the black community as a whole, and black families specifically, and that in order to close that gap, a society has a moral obligation to make a large, aggressive investment, even if it's not in the form of individual reparations checks, but in the form of a Marshall Plan, in order to close those gaps. It is easy to make that theoretical argument.”

“As a practical matter, it is hard to think of any society in human history in which a majority population has said that as a consequence of historic wrongs, we are now going to take a big chunk of the nation's resources over a long period of time to make that right.”

Thinking Humans Long Said Matter Hard Bigs Nations Periods Consequence Resources Majority Population Practicals Historic Human History Chunks Long Periods Of Time

Author:Barack Obama

“If you look at countries like South Africa, where you had a black majority, there have been efforts to tax and help that black majority, but it hasn't come in the form of a formal reparations program.”

Ifs Looks Has Beens Country Helping Form Black Effort Taxes Program Majority South South Africa Formal Reparations

Author:Barack Obama

“You have countries like India that have tried to help untouchables, with essentially affirmative-action programs, but it hasn't fundamentally changed the structure of their societies.”

Country Helping Action Changed Program India Structure Affirmative Action Affirmative Untouchables

Author:Barack Obama

“The bottom line is that it's hard to find a model in which you can practically administer and sustain political support for those kinds of efforts. And what makes America complicated as well is the degree to which this is not just a black/white society, and it is becoming less so every year.”

Years Wells Kind Hard America Political Black Lines White Effort Support Becoming Degrees Models Bottom Complicated Bottom Line Black White

Author:Barack Obama

“So how do Latinos feel if there's a big investment just in the African American community, and they're looking around and saying, "We're poor as well. What kind of help are we getting?" Or Asian Americans who say, "Look, I'm a first-generation immigrant, and clearly I didn't have anything to do with what was taking place."”

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Author:Barack Obama

“I'm not so optimistic as to think that you would ever be able to garner a majority of an American Congress that would make those kinds of investments above and beyond the kinds of investments that could be made in a progressive program for lifting up all people.”

People Thinking Kind Made Able Program Majority Investment Congress Optimistic Progressive Lifting Above And Beyond Lifting Up

Author:Barack Obama

“I have much more confidence in my ability, or any president or any leader's ability, to mobilize the American people around a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment to help every child in poverty in this country than I am in being able to mobilize the country around providing a benefit specific to African Americans as a consequence of slavery and Jim Crow.”

People Children Country Helping Able President Ability Leader Poverty Benefits Consequence Slavery Dollars Investment African American Providing Crow Jim Crow

Author:Barack Obama

“I think that part of my optimism comes from the belief that we as a people could actually, regardless of all the disadvantage of the past, regardless of the fact that a lot of other folks got a head start in the race, if we were able to make the race fair right now.”

People Ifs Thinking Facts Able Past Belief Race Right Now Fairs Optimism Folks Disadvantages Head Start

Author:Barack Obama

“Imagine if you had genuine, high-quality early-childhood education for every child, and suddenly every black child in America - but also every poor white child or Latino [child], but just stick with every black child in America - is getting a really good education. And they're graduating from high school at the same rates that whites are, and they are going to college at the same rates that whites are, and they are able to afford college at the same rates because the government has universal programs. So now they're all graduating.”