Transcript of Obama’s address to Islamic Society of Baltimore

President Obama spoke at a Baltimore mosque today, describing “one American family” whose history includes Muslims in virtually all walks of American life, from inspiring the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom penned by Thomas Jefferson, to working on the car assembly lines created by Henry Ford, to designing Chicago’s famous skyscrapers.

In a visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Obama cited the stories of young Muslim-Americans and their parents who have told him about the difficulties they face, from girls worried about wearing the hijab in school, to a 14-year-old boy from Texas who wrote Obama that “we just want to live in peace.”

Obama told students “you fit in here” and urged them to call themselves “Muslim and American,” not Muslim or American.

“We are one American family,” Obama said. “We will rise and fall together. It won’t always be easy. There will be times where our worst impulses are given voice. But I believe that ultimately, our best voices will win out. And that gives me confidence and faith in the future.”

Obama was introduced by Sabah Muktar, a University of Baltimore-Maryland student who described her decision to wear the hijab in high school.

“Personally, (Obama’s visit) reassures me that I — a proud, black, Muslim, African American — am just as American, and have the obligation to fulfill my loyalty to my country, as any other (American),” Muktar said.

Click here for the transcript of President Obama’s address.