Reparations Trivia Question

As I have been saying for some time now, the discussion of reparations in both domestic and international circles is returning.  This leads me to ask a second reparations trivia question.  What famous American politician said this:

My nation's journey toward justice has not been easy and it is not over. The racial bigotry fed by slavery did not end with slavery or with segregation. And many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of other times. But however long the journey, our destination is set: liberty and justice for all. ...

We know that these challenges can be overcome, because history moves in the direction of justice. The evils of slavery were accepted and unchanged for centuries. Yet, eventually, the human heart would not abide them. There is a voice of conscience and hope in every man and woman that will not be silenced -- what Martin Luther King called a certain kind of fire that no water could put out. That flame could not be extinguished at the Birmingham jail. It could not be stamped out at Robben Island Prison. It was seen in the darkness here at Goree Island, where no chain could bind the soul. This untamed fire of justice continues to burn in the affairs of man, and it lights the way before us.

I'm guessing you're going to be surprised by the answer.  I'll give you a hint -- it wasn't the person I asked about in my first reparations trivia question.  However, the language is in some ways reminiscent of his ideas.

Comments

[anon]

President George W. Bush
Goree Island, Senegal
July 8, 2003

The whole speech is interesting reading.

[anon]

PS

These ideas hardly "belong" to any individual. The expression by one person of these notions of justice is not reminiscent of "his" ideas (presumably, you didn't capitalize the "h") any more than these expressions are anyone else's ideas, IMHO.

[Alfred L. Brophy]

Yes, anon is exactly right. This is President Bush -- sounding remarkably like President Obama. In fact, in some ways more like what I'd expect Obama to sound like than Obama himself on issues of history and progress. As amon says, the entire speech is most interesting. It's available here: http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030708-1.html

That page also has a link to both a podcast (is that what it was called back in 2003?) and a video, but at least on my computer it takes a while for them to come up. Well worth a listen; the whole speech is only about 15 minutes long.