Fahad Alotaibi, AAST 216, Extra credit project, 11/18/2012 1- Promising is a fit word for my reaction to the speech. It had a lot of insights to the problems between citizens and with that some good ideas to start working on the solutions. Obama talked about how unity and equality between citizens of the US is the basis that the declaration of independence was written by. And how was that intended to have Democracy in the US. However, the unhealed wound of the slavery era was a back stab to the constitution of the United States of America. He said that unity is a key in order to solve the problem of its people. He also mentioned that ethnicity, ideology and color are not important if we were going to solve those problems, what matters is that we act as one. In my opinion, he is a hundred percent correct about the importance of unity. Whenever people are united by any given reason, it is easier for them to communicate and relate to each other, and therefore determine their problems and start on solutions. Without unity problems will not be solved and other problems could come to surface.

What stood out to me that he emphasized that on election cycle is not going to be enough to solve these problems. Time and effort is required to overcome the obstacles from the past and the present in order to be unified in solving the problems.

2- Obama asked black Americans to embrace the past without becoming a victim of it. He said that African Americans must try to work on themselves and along the way help fellow Americans from other ethnic groups. He also stated that history proves how America can change and how it has changed. And, unity makes change much easier.

On the other hand, he tells white Americans to prove for black Americans that racism is only in black Americans’ minds. Good deeds and helping poor black communities by gestures is a real proof rather than talking about the absence of racism. He also asks the whites to invest in the black Americans communities which will provide opportunities for future generations and would be a great help to persuade unity in the US.

3- The source of this anger according to Obama is Legalized Discrimination in the past. Black Americans couldn’t be able to have quality education because of the segregation in the past. On top of that, working as