The president and his family toured Cape Coast Castle Saturday, an historic departure point in Ghana for untold numbers of slaves bound for America and the Caribbean. After, Barack Obama gave a statement. Here is an excerpt:

As Americans, and as African Americans, obviously there’s a special sense that on the one hand this place was a place of profound sadness; on the other hand, it is here where the journey of much of the African American experience began.  And symbolically, to be able to come back with my family, with Michelle and our children, and see the portal through which the diaspora began, but also to be able to come back here in celebration with the people of Ghana of the extraordinary progress that we’ve made because of the courage of so many, black and white, to abolish slavery and ultimately win civil rights for all people, I think is a source of hope.  It reminds us that as bad as history can be, it’s also possible to overcome.

Full statement after the jump.