Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke to journalists of color at the annual Unity Convention in Chicago, IL. after his recent Middle East and European Tours. Barack Obama gave a historic speech in Berlin Germany during his tour of Europe addressing over 200,000 people.
In his first U.S. appearance after a nine-day foreign tour, Sen. Barack Obama told a convention of minority journalists in Chicago today that he believes affirmative action will still be needed, even if the nation elects its first black president.
Obama also criticized Republican challenger Sen. John McCain for a position he took earlier Sunday in support of a proposed ballot initiative in Arizona that would prohibit affirmative action policies from state and local governments.
"I am disappointed that John McCain flipped," the Illinois Democrat said during an appearance broadcast on CNN before an alliance of minority journalists called UNITY gathered at the McCormick Place convention center.
McCain, who made his remarks on ABC's "This Week," has previously called similar efforts "divisive," although he has also consistently expressed opposition to hiring quotas based on race while supporting affirmative action in limited cases.
Obama said the ballot initiatives like the one being considered in McCain's home state are "all too often designed to drive a wedge between people."
While saying he is a "strong supporter" of affirmative action, Obama said it must also be structured so that it is not just a quota system.
"We are becoming a more diverse culture, and it's something that has to be acknowledged," he said. "I've also said that affirmative action is not going to be the long-term solution to the problems of race in American because, frankly, if you've got 50 percent of African-American or Latino kids dropping out of high school, it doesn't really matter what you do in terms of affirmative action. Those kids are not getting into college....There have been times where affirmative action has been viewed as a shortcut to solving some of these broader, long-term, structural problems." source
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