President Obama speaks in Selma: 'Our march is not yet finished, but we're getting closer'

President Barack Obama spoke in Selma, Alabama, on Saturday afternoon, paying tribute to some 600 peaceful protesters who were attacked by Alabama state troopers while marching for voting rights 50 years ago this weekend.

"There are places and moments in America where this nation's destiny has been decided,” Obama said. "Selma is such a place… We have to recognize that one day's commemoration, no matter how special, is not enough. If Selma taught us anything, it's that our work is never done.”

Obama addressed the recent Department of Justice report on a pattern of racial bias in the Ferguson, Missouri, police department, saying that while the report's narrative was sadly familiar, "what happened in Ferguson may not be unique, but it is no longer endemic.”

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But, "we just need to open our eyes and our ears and our hearts to know that this nations' racial history still casts its long shadow upon us,” he said. "Our march is not yet finished, but we're getting closer.”

To that end, Obama encouraged lawmakers to support renewal of the Voting Rights Act, which he said still faces hurdles, and he encouraged all Americans but especially young people to embrace "the imperative of citizenship.”

Read the full transcript of the president's speech, as it was prepared for delivery, over at Time.