Barack Obama/Podcasts

“ What are the things that we care about deeply? How are we going to make sure that every child gets the kind of education to prepare them for the global economy? How are we going to make certain that every person in need of health care has access? How do we deal with the kinds of challenges that our generation and future generations are going to face environmentally? Whatever it is that moves you deeply-- the way the imperative of freedom moved Rosa Parks-- we have to act on it. ”

“ That's part of Rosa Park's legacy, but part of Rosa Park's legacy is also listening to this young girl, Mireya, saying that she is hoping for something else. That seems to be the essence of the American dream that in some ways described what Rosa Parks was all about. She refused the given of her reality and insisted that we could do better for herself, for her people and for the nation. And it seems to me that as we think about what kind of legacy we are going to leave behind, how we are going to commemorate Rosa Parks, it shouldn't just be lofted eulogies. ”

“ Despite being tired, despite having spent the whole day doing someone else's laundry and looking after somebody else's children, this seemingly ordinary woman was able to bring about extraordinary transformation and, in that sense, represented the multitude of people from all walks of life who participated in one of the greatest struggles to open up opportunity in our society that we have ever seen. ”