Yes, he saw it was a long road. As Obama said in his farewell speech, America tends to take two steps forward, one step back. Right now it may seem like one forward, two back. But seriously, what's the alternative? An all-out cultural war where we line up, us versus them, and then what... duke it out? Shoot at each other? And what if our side lost? Would you accept that and go home and be like, "Well, we tried." Of course not! These are matters of the heart. In most cases, the laws are already installed to lead to social justice, the problem is enforcing them. That's where the effort needs to be placed: improving law enforcement, securing new laws or court-enforcement of existing ones where needed, working the grassroots campaigns to get better people elected to office, boycotting businesses, and protesting in a peaceful manner when needed. Peaceful doesn't mean passive, however. Massive swells of people taking to the streets changes hearts and minds, but when you start acting violent, you undermine your own message of peace and acceptance. Because you can't preach acceptance if you already have a list of those you won't accept.