We have seen what happens when African-American citizens have the opportunity they have earned and the respect they deserve. Men and women once victimized by Jim Crow have risen to leadership in the halls of Congress. Professionals and entrepreneurs have built a successful, growing African-American middle class. It must be our goal to expand this opportunity to make it as broad and diverse as American itself. And this begins with enforcing our civil rights laws.
Discrimination is still a reality, even when it takes different forms.
Instead of Jim Crow, there is racial redlining and profiling. Strong civil rights enforcement will be a cornerstone of my administration. I will confront another form of bias the soft bigotry of low expectations in education. Several months ago I visited Central High School in Little Rock, where African-Americans confronted injustice and white Americans confronted their conscience. In 43 years, we ve come so far in opening the doors of our schools.