00:03Because this museum, this museum on the National Mall, or as we all call it, America's Front
00:10Yard, this museum tries to fulfill the dreams of so many generations who believe that America
00:18would be made better if it understood, if it grappled with, if it immersed itself in
00:25the African-American experience. Today we gather to commemorate lost colleagues, friends, and family.
00:33Looking across a vast sea of flags covering the National Mall, it's hard to avoid being overwhelmed
00:40by the scope of the continuing heartbreak of this pandemic. Sometimes the magnitude of a tragedy
00:47can become so great that it's just an abstraction. But these flags help us get our arms around
00:56the magnitude of what we've lost.
