Good evening, everybody.
Who says you can't go home again after watching the
Obamas last night?
That was some epic fire, wasn't it?
Some epic fire.
We're now so fired up.
We can't wait to leave here and do something.
And what we're going to do is elect Kamala Harris
as the next president of the United States.
I am so honored to have been asked to speak
on tonight's theme about what matters most to me, to
you, and all of us Americans.
Freedom.
There are people who want you to see our country
as a nation of US against them.
People who want to scare you, who want to rule
you.
People who would have you believe that books are dangerous
and assault rifles are safe.
That there's a right way to worship and a wrong
way to love.
People who seek first to divide and then to conquer.
But here's the thing.
When we stand together, it is impossible to conquer us.
In the words of an extraordinary American, the late Congressman
John Lewis, he said no matter ship our ancestors arrived
on, we are all in the same boat now.
Congressman Lewis knew very well how far this country has
come because he was one of the brilliant Americans who
helped to get us where we are.
But he also knew that the work is not done.
The work will never be done because freedom isn't free.
America is an ongoing project.
It requires commitment.
It requires being open to the hard work and the
hard work of democracy.
And every now and then, it requires standing up to
life's bullies.
I know this.
I've lived in Mississippi, in Tennessee, in Wisconsin, Maryland, Indiana,
Florida, Hawaii, Colorado, California and California and sweet home Chicago,
IL.
I have actually travelled this country from the Redwood forest.
Love those redwoods to the Gulf Stream waters.
I've seen racism and sexism and income inequality and division.
I've not only seen it at times I've been on
the receiving end of it.
But more often than not, what I've witnessed and experienced
are human beings, both Conservative and Liberal, who may not
agree with each other, but who'd still help you in
a heartbeat if you were in trouble.
These are the people who make me proud to say
that I am an American.
They are the best of America.
And despite what some would have you think, we are
not so different from our neighbors.
When a house is on fire, we don't ask about
the homeowner's race or religion.
We don't wonder who their partner is or how they
voted no.
We just try to do the best we can to
save them.
And if the place happens to belong to a childless
cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out
too, because we are a country of people who work
hard for the money.
We wish our brothers and sisters well, and we pray
for peace.
We know all the old tricks and tropes that are
designed to distract us from what actually matters.
But we are beyond ridiculous tweets and lies and foolery.
These are complicated times, people, and they require adult conversation.
And I welcome those conversations because civilized debate is vital
to democracy, and it is the best of America.
Now, over the last couple of nights, we have all
seen brave people walk onto the stage and share their
most private pain.
Amanda and Josh, Caitlin Hadley, they told us their stories
of rape and incest and near death experiences from having
the state deny them the abortion that their doctor explained
was medically necessary.
And they've told us these things for one reason, and
that is to keep what happened to them from happening
to anybody else.
Because if you do not have autonomy over this, over
this, if you cannot control when and how you choose
to bring your children into this world and how they
are raised and supported, there is no American dream.
The women and men who are battling to keep us
from going back to a time of desperation and shame
and stone cold fear.
They are the new freedom fighters.
And make no mistake, they are the best of America.
I want to talk now about somebody who's not with
us tonight.
Tessie Prevost Williams was born in New Orleans not long
after the Supreme Court rule that segregated public schools were
unconstitutional.
That was in 1954, same year I was born.
But I didn't have to head to 1st grade at
the all white Madonna 19 school with AUS Marshall by
my side like Tessie did.
And when I got to school, the building wasn't empty
like it was for Tessie.
You see, rather than allowing Madonna to be integrated, parents
pulled their kids out of the school, leaving only Tessie
and two other little black girls, GAIL Etienne and Leona
Tate, to sit in a classroom with the windows papered
over to block snipers from attacking their six year old
bodies.
Tessie passed away six weeks ago, and I tell this
story to honor her tonight because she she, like Ruby
Bridges and her friends Leona and GAIL, the New Orleans
Four, they were called, they broke barriers and they paid
dearly for it.
But it was the grace and guts and courage of
women like Tessie Prevost Williams that paved the way for
another young girl who nine years later became part of
the second class to integrate the public schools in Berkeley,
CA.
And it seems to me that at school and at
home, somebody did a beautiful job of showing this young
girl how to challenge the people at the top and
empower the people at the bottom.
They showed her how to look at the world and
see not just what is, but what can be.
They instilled in her a passion for justice and freedom
and the glorious fighting spirit necessary to pursue that passion.
And soon and very soon, soon and very soon, we're
going to be teaching our daughters and sons about how
this child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father,
two idealistic, energetic immigrants, immigrants, how this child grew up
to become the 47th president of the United States, is
the best of America.
You know, you know, let me tell you this.
This election isn't about us and them.
It's about you and me and what we want our
futures to look like.
There are choices to be made when we cast our
ballot.
Now there's a certain candidate that says if we just
go to the polls this one time that we'll never
have to do it again.
Well, you know what?
You're looking at a registered independent who's proud to vote
again and again and again because I'm an American and
that's what Americans do.
Voting is the best of America.
And I have always, since I was eligible to vote,
I've always voted my values.
And that is what is needed in this election now
more than ever.
So I'm calling on all you independence and all you
undecideds.
You know this is true.
You know I'm telling you the truth that values and
character matter most of all in leadership and in life.
And more than anything, you know this is true.
The decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024
and and just plain common sense.
Common sense tells you that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz
can give us decency and respect.
They're the ones that give it to us.
So we are Americans.
We are Americans.
Let us choose loyalty to the Constitution over loyalty to
any individual because, because that's the best of America.
And let us choose optimism over cynicism, because that's the
best of America.
And let us choose inclusion over retribution.
Let us choose common sense over nonsense, because that's the
best of America.
And let us choose the sweet promise of tomorrow over
the bitter return to yesterday.
We won't go back.
We won't be set back, pushed back, bullied back, kicked
back.
We're not going back, not going back.
We're not going back.
So let us choose.
Let us choose truth.
Let us choose honor, and let us choose joy, because
that's the best of America.
But more than anything else, let us choose freedom.
Why?
Because that's the best of America.
We're all Americans, and together let's all choose Kamala Hara.