President Obama speaks at Congressional Black Caucus dinner

“There’s no denying that black women and girls still face real and persistent challenges”, he said. “Our kids are being raised around drug crime, they naturally gravitate toward drug crime, they then get involved in the criminal justice system, and it just churns, and everybody thinks that’s normal”.

Speaking inside the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s year round promotions meals for your 7th years one after the other, Obama was at certain to handle a number of competitors for consideration on the table.

Noting that Black women were integral in every civil rights movement, including suffrage and feminism, the president discussed his decision to highlight Black women as an effort to quiet the voices telling them they aren’t “good enough”.

With more black women graduating from college and opening their own businesses, the president noted the progress made but said there is more work to be done. He said they have been part of every great movement in American history, and that every American has benefited as a result.

Vice President Joe Biden was attending a caucus prayer breakfast before heading to his home in Delaware for the weekend.

Obama says he will work with Congress and CBC members in the coming months on legislation to address what he says are unjust sentencing laws.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton deliberate to attend the dinner at Washington’s conference middle – to mingle, however not give a speech.

He also swiped at conservatives who blamed him for animosity toward police officers. ‘I want to repeat because I’ve said it a lot, unwaveringly, all the time: Our law enforcement officers do outstanding work in an incredibly hard and unsafe job. “I want Michelle getting paid at some point”, Obama said. “All of us are the beneficiaries of a long line of strong black women who helped carry our country”. We appreciate them and we love them’.

Among those honored Saturday night was the late Amelia Boynton Robinson, an organizer of the Bloody Sunday march for voting rights to Montgomery, Ala., in March 1965.