Barack Obama

In his tribute to Jackson, Obama wrote that he and former First Lady Michelle Obama would always be grateful for Jackson's lifetime of service, writing, quote, we stood on his shoulders.

Elena Moore, NPR News.

Young people will be exposed to world leaders who are coming through and can talk about their own journey.

And what that does is it builds a community of activists.

And it reminds people you're not alone.

You're not alone in your sorrow when you see some of the stuff that's been happening in this country over the last year.

But you're also not alone in

being able to figure out how do we push back and come up with new solutions and how do we remake these institutions so that they work for this generation.

And that kind of spirit is what we hope this presidential center will constantly refresh and renew.

This is kind of a social change university.

I think there was a certain way of talking about issues for Democrats where we sounded like scolds.

And I've said this before, there was a virtue signaling that made it seem as if ordinary folks, if they did not say things in exactly the right way or meet this litmus test, that they were being chastised, pushed away.

And the truth is, most of us, all of us are complicated and we have blind spots.

And sometimes we say dumb stuff.

And if you want to create an environment that is welcoming and makes people feel, okay, there's room for me here, then the message and the story we tell has to be, all right, none of us are perfect.

All of us count.

The other side does the mean, angry demagoguery, you know, exclusive us them thing.

you know, divisive politics.

That's their home court.

Our court is coming together.