it a special honor to be here in clarendon counti __PUNCT__
becaus clarendon counti is the place that show me and show america that when ordinari peopl come togeth __PUNCT__ thei can do extraordinari thing __PUNCT__
that the clarendon counti i know __PUNCT__
i know how sixti year ago __PUNCT__ the naacp jame hinton dare to ask why white children could ride buse to school but black children had to walk __PUNCT__
i know how reverend j.a __PUNCT__
delain __PUNCT__ a preacher and teacher in summerton __PUNCT__ heard that call and join with levi pearson __PUNCT__ a father who wa sick and tire of see hi children walk nine mile to school __PUNCT__ and with harri and eliza brigg and more than a dozen other black parent to challeng unequ educ __PUNCT__
i know that becaus of that challeng __PUNCT__ harri brigg lost hi job at the local servic station __PUNCT__ eliza brigg lost her at a local hotel __PUNCT__ and reverend delain home wa burn to the ground while the fire depart stood by and watch __PUNCT__
it would have been easi for them to stai home __PUNCT__
to heed the voic of caution and conveni that said __PUNCT__ wait __PUNCT__ the time isn't right __PUNCT__ or __PUNCT__ the countri just isn't readi __PUNCT__
it would have been easi for them to give in to the fear that no doubt kept them awak some night __PUNCT__
but i know that becaus thei were will to overcom their fear and reach for a larger dream __PUNCT__ the suprem court overturn __PUNCT__ separ but equal __PUNCT__ and congress pass the civil right act and the vote right act __PUNCT__
and i know that i stand on their shoulder __PUNCT__ that their courag and sacrific six decad ago make it possibl for me to run todai for presid of the unit state __PUNCT__
so i know clarendon counti __PUNCT__
the clarendon counti that show a nation how to look up rather than down __PUNCT__
the clarendon counti that made a claim on the american dream __PUNCT__
the clarendon counti that chang the cours of histori __PUNCT__
but i also know anoth clarendon counti __PUNCT__
i know school in the corridor of shame __PUNCT__
i know j.v __PUNCT__ martin junior high school in dillon wa built more than a centuri ago __PUNCT__ and for year had shatter window __PUNCT__ leak ceil __PUNCT__ and broken bathroom __PUNCT__
i know south carolina ha the worst high school dropout rate in america __PUNCT__
i know that all across thi nation __PUNCT__ on out of everi four children go to school just like j __PUNCT__ v __PUNCT__ martin __PUNCT__ and take awai the same messag that we don't care enough about their educ to do better by them __PUNCT__
i know that america todai is still blind to the poverti in our midst __PUNCT__ and that we still toler jena justic for some and scooter libbi justic for other __PUNCT__
i know that black parent in clarendon ar still have to go to court to give their children an equal educ __PUNCT__ fifti year after brown v __PUNCT__ board of educ __PUNCT__
there is anoth side of clarendon counti __PUNCT__ anoth side of america __PUNCT__ still wait for what harri and eliza brigg hope for __PUNCT__
the hope that our children destini aren't written befor thei ar born __PUNCT__
the hope that on dai the world as it is and the world as it should be might be on and the same __PUNCT__
that is why i stand befor you todai as a candid for presid of the unit state of america __PUNCT__
i am run becaus i refus to accept that the wai it is __PUNCT__ is the wai it ha to be __PUNCT__
i refus to accept it when i hear adult sai thing like __PUNCT__ these kid can't learn __PUNCT__ or __PUNCT__ these kid come from tough background __PUNCT__ or __PUNCT__ these kid ar too far behind __PUNCT__
we need to start treat __PUNCT__ these kid __PUNCT__ like __PUNCT__ our kid __PUNCT__
i am run becaus i want a sens of urgenc about our kid in washington __PUNCT__
when i in the white hous __PUNCT__ we reform no child left behind so we don't leav the monei behind __PUNCT__
we recruit an armi of new teacher __PUNCT__ and make sure thei come teach here in man __PUNCT__ becaus the most import factor in a child educ is the person stand at the head of the classroom __PUNCT__
we invest in earli childhood educ becaus for everi dollar we put there __PUNCT__ we get seven dollar back in reduc dropout rate __PUNCT__ reduc delinqu __PUNCT__ and reduc prison rate __PUNCT__ and more young peopl can go to colleg and get good job __PUNCT__
and we rebuild our broken school __PUNCT__
we know why thi matter __PUNCT__
it not just that a good educ is essenti to help the children of todai compet more effect as the worker of tomorrow __PUNCT__
it that the promis of a good educ make it possibl for everi child to transcend the barrier of race and class and background and achiev their god __PUNCT__ given potenti __PUNCT__
that why harri and eliza brigg put their name on that lawsuit __PUNCT__
that why so mani other risk so much to give their children an equal educ __PUNCT__
that my stori __PUNCT__
that what the american stori is suppos to be about __PUNCT__
that caus is worth fight for __PUNCT__
a qualiti educ is worth fight for __PUNCT__
univers health care is worth fight for __PUNCT__
econom opportun is worth fight for __PUNCT__
equal is still worth fight for __PUNCT__
and when i presid __PUNCT__ we go to have a govern that help us win these fight __PUNCT__
not becaus it up to me alon __PUNCT__
not becaus i have a corner on all the best idea __PUNCT__
but becaus i understand that we need more than a new campaign or candid __PUNCT__ we need a movement __PUNCT__
we need a presid readi to partner with you and not too import to do so __PUNCT__ readi to move the american peopl to common caus on these issu __PUNCT__ and will to ask you to do your part __PUNCT__ not just as voter __PUNCT__ but as citizen __PUNCT__
becaus the truth is __PUNCT__ no matter how mani govern program we launch or how mani tax dollar we spend __PUNCT__ we can still fall short if each of us is unwil to do our own part __PUNCT__
if we unwil to be respons parent and turn off the tv __PUNCT__ put awai the video game __PUNCT__ read to our child __PUNCT__ and attend those parent/teach confer __PUNCT__
we can still fall short if we don't heal the hole in the heart of all those young men stand on street corner in everi citi in thi countri without a sens of ani destini other than end up in jail or dead __PUNCT__
and heal that hole is go to take more than a chang in polici __PUNCT__ it go to take a chang of heart __PUNCT__
we go to have to reclaim in our own live the belief that i am my brother keeper __PUNCT__ i am my sister keeper __PUNCT__
it the belief that led folk in clarendon not to turn their back on harri brigg and hi fellow foot soldier __PUNCT__ but to offer them monei when their credit wa cut at the local store __PUNCT__ and a place to stai when thei were kick off the land __PUNCT__
it the belief that led a white judg name j __PUNCT__ wait ware to stand by their side even after a cross wa burn on hi lawn and shot were fire into hi live room __PUNCT__
and it the belief that led me into public servic more than two decad ago __PUNCT__
as some of you mai know __PUNCT__ after colleg __PUNCT__ i walk awai from a career on wall street __PUNCT__ and went to work with a group of church as a commun organ on the south side of chicago so i could fight for folk who had lost their job when the local steel plant close __PUNCT__
and ever sinc __PUNCT__ i been fight to put the american dream within reach for everi american __PUNCT__
that why i went to work as a civil right lawyer __PUNCT__ and as a state senat and as a u. __PUNCT__ senat __PUNCT__
that why i expand health care to __NUM__ children and their parent in illinoi __PUNCT__
that why i led the fight to reform a death penalti system that had sentenc __NUM__ innoc men to death __PUNCT__
that why i led the fight to reform racial profil __PUNCT__
and that why you can trust that i fight for you as presid __PUNCT__
now __PUNCT__ i heard that some folk aren't sure america is readi for an african __PUNCT__ american presid __PUNCT__ so let me be clear __PUNCT__ i never would have begun thi campaign if i weren't confid i could win __PUNCT__
but you see __PUNCT__ i am not ask anyon to take a chanc on me __PUNCT__
i am ask you to take a chanc on your own aspir __PUNCT__
just imagin what we could do as partner in an obama administr __PUNCT__
imagin a presid who wa rais like i wa by a singl mom who had to work and go to school and rais her kid and accept food stamp for a while __PUNCT__
imagin a presid who could go into holli court apart here in man or scott branch high school in summerton __PUNCT__ and give the young men and women there someon to look up to __PUNCT__
imagin a presid who fought each dai to narrow the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be __PUNCT__
narrow that gap is not go to be easi __PUNCT__
but real chang never is __PUNCT__
i can still rememb on of the earli dai when i wa just start out as a commun organ in chicago __PUNCT__
we had set up a meet to figur out how to rebuild our neighborhood __PUNCT__ but no on show up __PUNCT__
and our volunt felt so defeat __PUNCT__ thei want to quit __PUNCT__
and i wa tire too __PUNCT__
but at that moment __PUNCT__ i look outsid and saw some young boi plai in a vacant lot across the street __PUNCT__ toss stone at a board __PUNCT__ up apart build __PUNCT__
and i turn to the volunt __PUNCT__ and i ask them __PUNCT__ befor you quit __PUNCT__ i want you to answer on question __PUNCT__
what gonna happen to those boi __PUNCT__ i thought __PUNCT__ if we cannot put asid our doubt and our cynic __PUNCT__ if we cannot see that we have a stake in those children __PUNCT__ if we don't realiz that the fight for their futur is the fight for our own __PUNCT__ who will __PUNCT__ on by on __PUNCT__ the volunt decid to stai __PUNCT__
and block by block __PUNCT__ we began to turn those neighborhood around __PUNCT__
so todai __PUNCT__ sixti year after jame hinton issu hi challeng __PUNCT__ i want to issu a challeng of my own __PUNCT__
if you tire of the polit of fear and divis __PUNCT__ if you tire of a govern that stand idli by while our school go underfund __PUNCT__ our children go unemploi __PUNCT__ and our commun ar neglect __PUNCT__ if you feel as i do that if we don't fight for that next gener of children __PUNCT__ who will __PUNCT__ then i ask you to join me __PUNCT__
and if you can do that __PUNCT__ if you can overcom your doubt __PUNCT__ cast awai your fear __PUNCT__ and believ onc again that real chang is possibl in thi countri __PUNCT__ then i truli believ we can bring about the world that harri and eliza brigg dream of for their children __PUNCT__
