THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! (Applause.) Well, hello, San Francisco! It is great to be back in California. It is great to be with all of you. I love San Francisco.
And it’s fitting that we’re here in Chinatown, just a few
miles away from Angel Island. In the early 1900s, about 300,000 people --
maybe some of your ancestors -- passed through on their way to a new life in
America. And for many, it represented the end of a long and arduous
journey -- they’d finally arrived in a place where they believed anything was
possible.
And for some, it also represented the beginning of a new
struggle against prejudice in a country that didn’t always treat its immigrants
fairly or afford them the same rights as everybody else. Obviously,
Asians faced this, but so did the Irish; so did Italians; so did Jews; and many
groups still do today.
