Barack Obama told members of the NAACP Thursday evening that while the government “must be a force for equality,” black Americans “have to seize our own future, each and every day.” (w/video)

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The president stressed personal responsibility in his speech at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s 100th anniversary convention, saying that black parents must tell their children that their disadvantages in an unequal society are not an excuse for personal failures.

“No one has written your destiny for you,” he said. “Your destiny is in your hands – you cannot forget that. That’s what we have to teach all of our children: no excuses. No excuses.”

In his first speech directly addressing race since taking office, Mr. Obama said “there’s probably never been less discrimination in American than there is today.”

“But make no mistake: the pain of discrimination is still felt in America,” he said, specifically citing discrimination against African-Americans as well as Latinos, Muslims and gays and lesbians.

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