Read this excerpt from Kennedy's address to the nation on June 11, 1963, and answer the question.

We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and as clear as the American Constitution. The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities. Are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other, that this is a land of the free, except for the Negroes, that we have no second-class citizens, except Negroes, that we have no class or caste system, no ghettoes, no master race except with respect to Negroes? Now the time has come for this nation to fulfill its promise.

What is the meaning of afforded as it is used in this sentence?
A. to make available, provide
B. to have the financial means for
C. to bear without risk or disadvantage
D. to spare or give up