UN General Assembly
2013

about his dream, at a time when many people of my race could not even vote for President. Earlier this year, I stood in the small cell where Nelson Mandela endured for decades, cut off from his own people and the world. Who are we to believe that today’s challenges cannot be overcome, when we have seen what changes the human spirit can bring? Who in this Hall can argue that the future belongs to those who seek to repress that spirit, rather than to those who seek to liberate it? I know what side of history I want the United States of America to be on. We are ready to meet tomorrow’s challenges with you, firm in the belief that all men and women are in fact created equal, each individual possessed with a dignity and inalienable rights that cannot be denied. That is why we look to the future not with fear, but with hope. That is why we remain convinced that this community of nations can deliver a more peaceful, prosperous, and just world to the next