President Obama on Saturday night urged members of the black community to participate in this year’s election and help turn out the vote on Election Day, Nov. 8.
Article by Rebecca Shabad
Speaking at the annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation awards dinner, Mr. Obama bashed the GOP presidential nominee, Donald Trump, and his claims that he would fight for civil rights and equality.
“Get people registered to vote,” the president said at the dinner in downtown Washington. “If you care about our legacy, realize everything we stand for is at stake. All the progress we’ve made is at stake in this election. My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot, Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Good schools are on the ballot. Ending mass incarceration — that’s on the ballot right now!”
The president said there’s one candidate who would advance those things and he said the other has made the central theme of his campaign “opposition to all that we’ve done.”
He added that all votes in this election will matter.
“After we have achieved historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, especially in the African-American community, I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy, if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election,” Mr. Obama said. “You want to give me a good send-off? Go vote.”
“Hope is on the ballot, and fear is on the ballot, too,” he warned.
Hillary Clinton, who spoke at the dinner after Mr. Obama, has received overwhelming support from black voters in polls. Trump has spent the last month or so trying to win over voters within their community.
Mr. Obama attended a Democratic fundraiser Sunday evening in New York and will attend another one on Monday in the city as he prepares for the United Nations General Assembly.
