exclusion act was before congress in 1870, the first national leader to speak out against that was frederick douglass. the same man who fought against slavery. do you know that when the chinese exclusion act was voted on in congress, there was one black senator named blanche bruce, the only african-american in the u.s. senate, voted against it. similarly, we work side-by-side for semel -- civil rights and improve public education. in '86, and laundry owner sued the san francisco board of supervisors for a racially discriminatory law, and it brought equal protection to minorities, and that overturned the 1857 dread scott case, which held that minorities were not protected by the u.s. constitution. we have the landmark case of brown harris is board of education, 1954, to thank for equality in education. -- brown v. board of education. seven years later, the chinese community here worked shoulder to shoulder with the african- american community to expand civil rights and public education. we have a history of working together. mayer brown, and reverend brown knows very well. in the early 1970's, a commu

v- during th campaign, that there is a need for protagonists and antagonists, a frederick dougla douglasshat. >>+Ñ9 ought of us ought to as douglass, the truth,h/ justice. abe raham lincoln thought slave would exist forever. how come? he was an opportunist. he became a great president by 1963 by the emancipation proclamati proclamation. '65,ç supporting the war, that was a different lincoln. the abolitionist put2q5 preshì& sureÑi on him. wendell phillips put pressure, charles sumner put pressure. harriet beacher stowe, uncle tom's cabin. we need to put that kind of pressure onñi obama. if obama thinks3"ñ he can be a lincoln by looking for the middle ground in a superficial dialogue6 rather than the truth beneath the dialogueñr -- becau thenmn dialogue is hiding and concealing the truth, which is people. choose between the health care plan, the bonanza for the companies on the one hand, maybe some small little thing with public option. oh, we can only get 20 million. that means 19 million still not going to get it? what percentage of 19 million is large percentage. there is no health

abraham lincoln, the american indians, frederick douglass, the , the pioneers, what is it that they have in any other way other than, oh, crap, i got to cross the mountain? ask yourself -- would you have crossed the mountain? i think i would have been stuck at the first river. and that they would have made it to the rockies, my family what had been right there in denver, colorado. i will have gotten there and said, though, you have got to be kidding me. they went on. they relied on got. god's grace. america is great because america is good. but that is not the entire story. she is not good because she is good. america is only what we choose her to be. we as individuals must be good so america can be great. america is at a crossroads. and there is a clear and simple choice -- do we choose to it just look at the scars, do we choose to look back, or do we will do what every great generation has done in america in times of trouble -- look ahead, dream about what we're going to become, not worried about what we are? look floor, look west, look to the heavens, look to god. and make your choice

word we bring to you from the church, the church of freedom, the church of harriet tubman and frederick douglass price, it is our history. but history without destiny leads to apathy and lethargy. we are here today, as i was here as a nine-year old with my father, to remember the inspiration, the innovation, and the motivation that comes when people tie their interests together. the church, the unions, the civic organizations, higher education, the national council of negro women, when we all pull together -- i will close with the story of a young man taking a shortcut home one evening through a cemetery. he fell into a freshly dug grave and could not get out of the whole. the next morning, a young girl was going to school and skipping rope. she heard the boy calling for help. the little girl said that her rope was not long enough and put it down. she said that she would go to school and get some help for him. she was on her way. another schoolmate was coming. it was a little boy job tomorrow. his jump rope was not long enough. they both said they would go to school but have the teachers come ba

frederick douglass used to say something and that i concur with what he says -- in this world, he do when they defeated know anything else, that is you may not get everything that you pay for, but you most certainly will pay for everything that you get. pushing moratorium's -- not opposed to pushing them and i do push them and we have pushed them, but the reality is if you are in the house, you have to get 217 other people to agree with you. in the senate, in some instances, you have to get at least 50 people to agree with you. in some instances, you have to get 59. so i'm not all that optimistic. one of the things i've learned in this business if i don't know anything else about it is that change is not easy to come about. good ideas were great ideas, you have to get enough support from the people in order to make it happen. you don't only have to get support in illinois, you have to get support in south dakota and in wyoming and in mississippi and in texas and in all over the place. but i do believe people should continue to advocate for what they believe in. then, if you don't get