People all over the country await the Trump administration’s takeover to see if he will live up to his campaign promises to make America great again.
But before Trump receives the keys to the front door of the White House, the current leader of the free world had to first say farewell. And there were some Ferris students who had a few final remarks of their own.
President Obama delivered his final address as president in Chicago, Illinois Tuesday, Jan. 10.
“I had in my mind that Donald Trump wasn’t going to be elected as president so I was not as active in this year’s election,” said Ferris technical and professional communication sophomore Dona’ Worthy. “Now that he is elected as president, I wonder how I will be affected.”
“This year’s President Election had the worst candidates ever,” said Ferris pre-law student Trevor Ulewicz. “Both candidates, Clinton and Trump, focused on problems that I won’t benefit from.”
During his speech, President Obama said, “For blacks and other minority groups, that means tying our own very real struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face.”
Ferris business administration sophomore Dylan Wojkovich said that minorities fear they will be affected negatively during Trump’s time as president because he’s viewed as the rich white man everyone talks about.
Obama resonated those sentiments with this statement, “For white Americans, it means acknowledging that the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didn’t suddenly vanish in the ’60s. That when minority groups voice discontent, they’re not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness; when they wage peaceful protest, they’re not demanding special treatment, but the equal treatment that our founders promised.”
“In recent years’, videos of senseless killings of black men have black people scared,” said Ferris biology sophomore Brianna Hayes. “It’s scary because we still have to fight off oppression in 2017 in all kind of ways mentally, physically and financially.”
In his speech, President Obama said that the American government is the most precious in the world. He said that the citizens of the United States should do more open to help America be better.
“President Obama showed people that yes we can do things that people said we can’t,” Worthy said. “He set that bar as the first black President. No one can take that away from him. It’s sad to see him go.”
Obama ends his speech saying, “My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve you. I won’t stop, in fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my remaining days.”
With Obama’s tenure coming to an end, it is time to prepare for the inevitable. The Presidential Inauguration ceremonies for Trump will begin 9:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 20, in Washington, D.C.
To read the full transcript of President Obama’s farewell speech, visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/farewell.