US President Barack Obama said in his first speech on race since his election there were “no excuses” for failure, the Daily Telegraph reports.
He said: “No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands, and don’t you forget that. That’s what we have to teach all of our children! No excuses! No excuses!”
Mr Obama addressed his speech at the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).
NAACP, America’s largest civil rights organisation, was currently celebrating its 100th anniversary.
According to the BBC, Mr Obama told the organisation at a dinner party in New York there were “no excuses” for minority children not to succeed.
Jon Donnison, BBC correspondent in Washington said the tone of the speech was passionate, even preacher-like.
The main focus of Barack Obama’s speech encouraged black young people against all the odds to pursue their dreams and live their life the fullest.
He said African American children should instead aspire to be scientists, engineers, Supreme Court judges and president.
“We have to say to our children: ‘Yes, if you’re African-American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighbourhood, you will face challenges that someone in a wealthy suburb does not.’
“But that’s not a reason to get bad grades, that’s not a reason to cut class, that’s not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school.” He said.
Apart from urging young black generation to grow up as an educated person, the president also said “the pain of discrimination is till felt in America”.
He added discrimination was still felt by minorities in the US, including African American, Lations, Muslims Americans and gay people.
However, Mr Obama told the NAACP members they had to take responsibility for their lives and their communities, the BBC reports.
He said: “government programmes alone will not get our children to the promised land – we need a new mindset, a new set of attitudes.”
The president then went on to say African American communities had “internalised a set of limitations” and “come to expect so little from the world and from outside”.
Barack Obama also said he wanted to see a return to strong parenting and adults taking responsibility for the discipline of all children in their community.
He drew on his own experience and praised his single mother for giving him “the chance to make the most of life”.
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