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In a new “Soul of a Nation” special on ABC News, Obama sat down with 

“GMA’s” Michael Strahan ahead of Juneteenth to talk about its significance 

while looking toward the future. 

TRANSCRIPT:

And now to Michael’s one-on-one with former president Barack Obama talking 

about race resilience and finding hope again it's all part of ABC's Juneteenth 

special take a look president Obama happy June team it is good to see you 

happy Juneteenth to you thank you i remember being in school and they had

all the presidents and they had every president up there you would look at that 

list and you would say I want to be president but I don't think you could believe

it now when they look at that your face is up there right and a lot of people will

look and say it signifies since you've been elected president that that we've 

moved on from the issue of race what do you say to that well I think that's 

never been the case that by virtue of my election somehow we entered into

a post-racial world it wasn't something i believed uh at the time and i certainly

don't believe it now the fact is that a lot of barriers still exist for a whole lot of

folks when you look at that list of presidents we still haven't seen a woman 

and the notion that women somehow are not qualified to you know the fact is

at least in my Household the women are smarter more insightful more caring

better looking more talented we live in the same house that's my point so

something's happening in our society that prevents them from ascending to

the highest office in the land the same is true for African Americans the same 

is true for Latinos and the first Americans native Americans the odds are stacked 

in ways that prevent a lot of young people from realizing their potential and we 

can do something about it in the promised land you talk about hope the country

is built on hope pioneers abolitionists civil rights workers right you ran on hope 

we are choosing hope over fear and sending a powerful message that change

is coming to America we're now in 2021 and we have the pandemic the 

insurrection um racial reckoning a lot of people feel like they've lost hope how

can people get that hope back you get hope back from for me at least taking 

the long View and recognizing that resilience uh determination the ability to deal 

with setbacks and disappointments and keep going uh yeah that those are 

qualities that can carry us forward and no one has exhibited that more historically

in this country than African Americans the march on Washington happened during

my lifetime that's not ancient history in big parts of the country segregation was 

still operative when i was alive what seems like stuff we now take for Granted 

that's just a generation old there's so many people out there who idea the 

American dream they can't visualize they can't see it anymore so what is it going

to take for people to be able to realize and envision the American dream again 

well look historically the American dream has been a reality for some and a myth

for others we're in a community Anacostia in Washington dc that's representative

of a lot of communities around the country where the kids who grow up here may

formally be free but structurally because of poverty because of schools that aren't 

working because of substandard housing it requires so much more effort for them 

to live out that American dream and so our job is to make sure that it's not a myth 

and right now for too many it still is. I’m Michael Strachan in Washington D.C. and 

our thanks to Michael for that Juneteenth together we triumph a soul of a nation 

special event premieres tonight at 9 eastern on ABC and then starting at 3 p.m. 

eastern you can join ABC’s clubhouse conversation with the creators of soul of

a nation as we celebrate Juneteenth well hey there GMA fans Robin Roberts here

thanks for checking out our YouTube channel lots of great stuff here so go on click

the subscribe button right over right over here to get more of awesome videos and

content from GMA. Every day anytime we thank you for watching and we'll see 

you in the Morning on GMA 

QUESTIONS: 

1. What are some little known facts about Barack Obama?

2. State your opinion regarding the former president speech about race, 

   resilience and hope. 

3. What is Juneteenth? Why is that day being celebrated?