Obama Addresses Racial Tensions at Celebration of African-American History Museum

— -- President Barack Obama reflected on the current debate splitting the country in the aftermath of two more high-profile police-involved killings.

Speaking at a reception at the White House ahead of the opening of the African American Museum of History and Culture on Saturday, the president reminded attendees that each night throughout his presidency, he has read 10 letters selected by staff. He said Thursday night’s batch of letters all touched on the recent violence sparked by police-involved shootings of African Americans.

“Last night, as I was reading through my letters, I'd say about half of them said, 'Mr. President, why are you always against police and why aren't you doing enough to deal with these rioters and the violence,” he said. “And then the other half were, with some black folks said, 'Mr. President, why aren't you doing something about the police, and when are we actually gonna get justice?'

“And I understand the nature of that argument because this is a dialogue we've been having for 400 years,” he continued. “And the fact of the matter is that one of the challenges we have in generating a constructive discussion about how to solve these problems is because what people see on television and what they hear on the radio is bereft of context and ignores history, and so people are just responding as if none of what's represented in this museum ever happened. And that's true for all of us, not just some of us.”

Obama, who has privately visited the museum twice in recent days, called it “a breathtaking new building” on the National Mall, located just to the east of the Washington Monument. Its opening is drawing national attention as police shootings of black men in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Charlotte, North Carolina, continue to spur protests and violence throughout the country.

“The timing of this is fascinating,” Obama said of the museum’s grand opening. “Because in so many ways, it is the best of times. But in many ways these are also troubled times. History doesn’t always move in a straight line, and without vigilance, we can go backwards as well as forward.”

Growing visibly emotional, the president said when he walked through the museum, he imagined children -- white, black, Latino, Asian, Native American -- “wandering through that museum and sitting at that lunch counter and imagining what it would be like to stand on that auction block, and then also looking at Shaq's shoes, and Chuck Berry's red Cadillac.”

“My hope is, is that this complicated, difficult, sometimes harrowing, but I believe ultimately triumphant story, will help us talk to each other and more important, listen to each other -- and even more important, see each other, and recognize the common humanity that makes America what it is,” he said.

The president’s remarks were full of emotion, drawing attention to the fact that the White House was like its own living history museum, as it was built using some slave labor.

The president was joined at the reception by Oprah Winfrey, whom Obama referred to as “the woman who owns the universe,” Rvds. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, civil rights icons Rep. John Lewis and Andrew Young, and actor/singer Harry Belafonte, whom the president called a “personal hero” and “the best looking man in the room.”

Obama called the opening of the new museum a mark of "progress” in the pursuit of racial equality.

“We’re here just to acknowledge what an extraordinary achievement has been accomplished,” Obama said. “Part of the reason I’m so happy the museum is opening this weekend is because it allows all of us as Americans to put our current circumstances in a historical context,” he said. “My hope is that as people are seeing what’s happened in Tulsa or Charlotte on television, and perhaps are less familiar with not only the history of the African-American experience but also how recent some of these challenges have been.

“My hope is that white folks watching those same images on television and then seeing the history represented at this museum can say to themselves, ‘The struggles we’re going through today are connected to the past,’ and yet all that progress we’ve made can sink into space, because if we join hands and we do things right and we maintain our dignity and we continue to appeal to the better angels of this nation, progress will be made.”

The museum will hold its grand opening to the public Saturday morning at 10 a.m.