But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two hundred and twenty-one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins. (182-184)

The last few lines in Obama's speech offered a crystal-clear message: we have to cross racial divides and find the things that bind us together. Doing so won't solve our problems, but it's a good place to start—start the movement, start the conversation, start making a change.

Only then will we be on the right path toward that perfect union we've heard so much about.