English subtitles for clip: File:2016-09-24 President Obama's Weekly Address.webm

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The President: Hi everybody.

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This weekend, we'll dedicate
the newest American icon on

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our National Mall - the
National Museum of African

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American History
and Culture.

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It's a beautiful building,
five stories high and some

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70 feet below the ground,
situated just across the

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street from the
Washington Monument.

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And this museum tells a
story of America that hasn't

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always taken a front seat
in our national narrative.

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As a people, we've
rightfully passed on the

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tales of the giants who
built this country.

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But too often, willful or
not, we've chosen to gloss

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over or ignore entirely the
experience of millions upon

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millions of others.

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But this museum chooses
to tell a fuller story.

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It's doesn't gauze up
some bygone era or avoid

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uncomfortable truths.

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Rather, it embraces the
patriotic recognition that

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America is a constant work
in progress; that each

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successive generation can
look upon our imperfections

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and decide that it is within
our collective power to

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align this nation with the
high ideals of our founding.

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That's what
you'll see inside.

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You'll see it in the
shackles of an enslaved

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child and in the hope of
Harriet Tubman's gospel hymnal.

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You'll see it in the tragedy
of Emmett Till's coffin and

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in the resilience of a lunch
counter stool and in the

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triumph of a
Tuskegee Airplane.

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You'll see it in the shadow
of a prison guard tower and

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in the defiance of Jesse
Owens' cleats and in the

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American pride of Colin
Powell's uniform.

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All of that isn't simply the
African-American story; it's

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part of the American story.

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And so it is entirely
fitting that we tell this

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story on our National Mall,
the same place we tell the

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stories of Washington
and Jefferson and our

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independence; the story of
Lincoln who saved our union

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and the GIs who defended
it; the story of King who

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summoned us all toward
the mountaintop.

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That's what we'll celebrate
not just this weekend, but

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in the years and generations
ahead - a fuller account of

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our glorious American story.

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It's a chance to reflect on
our past and set a course

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for the future.

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Because here in this
country, all of us, no

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matter what our station in
life, have the chance to

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pick up the pen, and write
our own chapter for our time.

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Thanks everybody, and
have a great weekend.