美国经典英文演讲100篇Message_to_the_Grassroots

第一篇：美国经典英文演讲100篇Message_to_the_Grassroots

Malcolm X

Message To The Grass Roots

delivered on 10 Nov, 1963 in Detroit, MI

...And during the few moments that we have left, we want to have just an off-the-cuff chat between you and me--us.We want to talk right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand.We all agree tonight, all of the speakers have agreed, that America has a very serious problem.Not only does America have a very serious problem, but our people have a very serious problem.America's problem is us.We're her problem.The only reason she has a problem is she doesn't want us here.And every time you look at yourself, be you black, brown, red, or yellow--a so-called Negro--you represent a person who poses such a serious problem for America because you're not wanted.Once you face this as a fact, then you can start plotting a course that will make you appear intelligent, instead of unintelligent.What you and I need to do is learn to forget our differences.When we come together, we don't come together as Baptists or Methodists.You don't catch hell 'cause you're a Baptist, and you don't catch hell 'cause you're a Methodist.You don't catch hell 'cause you're a Methodist or Baptist.You don't catch hell because you're a Democrat or a Republican.You don't catch hell because you're a Mason or an Elk.And you sure don't catch hell 'cause you're an American;'cause if you was an American, you wouldn't catch no hell.You catch hell 'cause you're a black man.You catch hell, all of us catch hell, for the same reason.So we are all black people, so-called Negroes, second-class citizens, ex-slaves.You are nothing but a [sic] ex-slave.You don't like to be told that.But what else are you? You are ex-slaves.You didn't come here on the “Mayflower.” You came here on a slave ship--in chains, like a horse, or a cow, or a chicken.And you were brought here by the people who came here on the “Mayflower.” You were brought here by the so-called Pilgrims, or Founding Fathers.They were the ones who brought you here.We have a common enemy.We have this in common: We have a common oppressor, a common exploiter, and a common discriminator.But once we all realize that we have this common enemy, then we unite on the basis of what we have in common.And what we have foremost in common is that enemy--the white man.He's an enemy to all of us.I know some of you all think that some of them aren't enemies.Time will tell.In Bandung back in, I think, 1954, was the first unity meeting in centuries of black people.And once you study what happened at the Bandung conference，and the results of the Bandung conference, it actually serves as a model for the same procedure you and I can use to get our problems solved.At Bandung all the nations came together.Their were dark nations from Africa and Asia.Some of them were Buddhists.Some of them were Muslim.Some of them were Christians.Some of them were Confucianists;some were atheists.Despite their religious differences, they came together.Some were communists;some were socialists;some were capitalists.Despite their economic and political differences, they came together.All of them were black, brown, red, or yellow.The number-one thing that was not allowed to attend the Bandung conference was the white man.He couldn't come.Once they excluded the white man, they found that they could get together.Once they kept him out, everybody else fell right in and fell in line.This is the thing that you and I have to understand.And these people who came together didn't have nuclear weapons;they didn't have jet planes;they didn't have all of the heavy armaments that the white man has.But they had unity.They were able to submerge their little petty differences and agree on one thing: That though one African came from Kenya and was being colonized by the Englishman, and another African came from the Congo and was being colonized by the Belgian, and another African came from Guinea and was being colonized by the French, and another came from Angola and was being colonized by the Portuguese.When they came to the Bandung conference, they looked at the Portuguese, and at the Frenchman, and at the Englishman, and at the other--Dutchman--and learned or realized that the one thing that all of them had in common: they were all from Europe, they were all Europeans, blond, blue-eyed and white-skinned.They began to recognize who their enemy was.The same man that was colonizing our people in Kenya was colonizing our people in the Congo.The same one in the Congo was colonizing our people in South Africa, and in Southern Rhodesia, and in Burma, and in India, and in Afghanistan, and in Pakistan.They realized all over the world where the dark man was being oppressed, he was being oppressed by the white man;where the dark man was being exploited, he was being exploited by the white man.So they got together under this basis--that they had a common enemy.And when you and I here in Detroit and in Michigan and in America who have been awakened today look around us, we too realize here in America we all have a common enemy, whether he's in Georgia or Michigan, whether he's in California or New York.He's the same man: blue eyes and blond hair and pale skin--same man.So what we have to do is what they did.They agreed to stop quarreling among themselves.Any little spat that they had, they'd settle it

among themselves, go into a huddle--don't let the enemy know that you got [sic] a disagreement.Instead of us airing our differences in public, we have to realize we're all the same family.And when you have a family squabble, you don't get out on the sidewalk.If you do, everybody calls you uncouth, unrefined, uncivilized, savage.If you don't make it at home, you settle it at home;you get in the closet--argue it out behind closed doors.And then when you come out on the street, you pose a common front, a united front.And this is what we need to do in the community, and in the city, and in the state.We need to stop airing our differences in front of the white man.Put the white man out of our meetings, number one, and then sit down and talk shop with each other.[That's] all you gotta do.I would like to make a few comments concerning the difference between the black revolution and the Negro revolution.There's a difference.Are they both the same? And if they're not, what is the difference? What is the difference between a black revolution and a Negro revolution? First, what is a revolution? Sometimes I'm inclined to believe that many of our people are using this word “revolution” loosely, without taking careful consideration [of] what this word actually means, and what its historic characteristics are.When you study the historic nature of revolutions, the motive of a revolution, the objective of a revolution, and the result of a revolution, and the methods used in a revolution, you may change words.You may devise another program.You may change your goal and you may change your mind.Look at the American Revolution in 1776.That revolution was for what? For land.Why did they want land? Independence.How was it carried out? Bloodshed.Number one, it was based on land, the basis of independence.And the only way they could get it was bloodshed.The French Revolution--what was it based on? The land-less against the landlord.What was it for? Land.How did they get it? Bloodshed.Was no love lost;was no compromise;was no negotiation.I'm telling you, you don't know what a revolution is.'Cause when you find out what it is, you'll get back in the alley;you'll get out of the way.The Russian Revolution--what was it based on? Land.The land-less against the landlord.How did they bring it about? Bloodshed.You haven't got a revolution that doesn't involve bloodshed.And you're afraid to bleed.I said, you're afraid to bleed.[As] long as the white man sent you to Korea, you bled.He sent you to Germany, you bled.He sent you to the South Pacific to fight the Japanese, you bled.You bleed for white people.But when it comes time to seeing your own churches being bombed and little black girls be murdered, you haven't got no blood.You bleed when the white man says bleed;you bite when the white man says bite;

and you bark when the white man says bark.I hate to say this about us, but it's true.How are you going to be nonviolent in Mississippi, as violent as you were in Korea? How can you justify being nonviolent in Mississippi and Alabama, when your churches are being bombed, and your little girls are being murdered, and at the same time you're going to violent with Hitler, and Tojo, and somebody else that you don't even know? If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad.If it's wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it's wrong for America to draft us and make us violent abroad in defense of her.And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.The Chinese Revolution--they wanted land.They threw the British out, along with the Uncle Tom Chinese.Yeah, they did.They set a good example.When I was in prison, I read an article--don't be shocked when I say I was in prison.You're still in prison.That's what America means: prison.When I was in prison, I read an article in Life magazine showing a little Chinese girl, nine years old;her father was on his hands and knees and she was pulling the trigger 'cause he was an Uncle Tom Chinaman, When they had the revolution over there, they took a whole generation of Uncle Toms--just wiped them out.And within ten years that little girl become [sic] a full-grown woman.No more Toms in China.And today it's one of the toughest, roughest, most feared countries on this earth--by the white man.'Cause there are no Uncle Toms over there.Of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research.And when you see that you've got problems, all you have to do is examine the historic method used all over the world by others who have problems similar to yours.And once you see how they got theirs straight, then you know how you can get yours straight.There's been a revolution, a black revolution, going on in Africa.In Kenya, the Mau Mau were revolutionaries;they were the ones who made the word “Uhuru” [Kenyan word for “freedom”].They were the ones who brought it to the fore.The Mau Mau, they were revolutionaries.They believed in scorched earth.They knocked everything aside that got in their way, and their revolution also was based on land, a desire for land.In Algeria, the northern part of Africa, a revolution took place.The Algerians were revolutionists;they wanted land.France offered to let them be integrated into France.They told France: to hell with France.They wanted some land, not some France.And they engaged in a bloody battle.So I cite these various revolutions, brothers and sisters, to show you--you don't have a peaceful revolution.You don't have a turn-the-other-cheek

revolution.There's no such thing as a nonviolent revolution.[The] only kind of revolution that's nonviolent is the Negro revolution.The only revolution based on loving your enemy is the Negro revolution.The only revolution in which the goal is a desegregated lunch counter, a desegregated theater, a desegregated park, and a desegregated public toilet;you can sit down next to white folks on the toilet.That's no revolution.Revolution is based on land.Land is the basis of all independence.Land is the basis of freedom, justice, and equality.The white man knows what a revolution is.He knows that the black revolution is world-wide in scope and in nature.The black revolution is sweeping Asia, sweeping Africa, is rearing its head in Latin America.The Cuban Revolution--that's a revolution.They overturned the system.Revolution is in Asia.Revolution is in Africa.And the white man is screaming because he sees revolution in Latin America.How do you think he'll react to you when you learn what a real revolution is? You don't know what a revolution is.If you did, you wouldn't use that word.A revolution is bloody.Revolution is hostile.Revolution knows no compromise.Revolution overturns and destroys everything that gets in its way.And you, sitting around here like a knot on the wall, saying, “I'm going to love these folks no matter how much they hate me.” No, you need a revolution.Whoever heard of a revolution where they lock arms, as Reverend Cleage was pointing out beautifully, singing “We Shall Overcome”? Just tell me.You don't do that in a revolution.You don't do any singing;you're too busy swinging.It's based on land.A revolutionary wants land so he can set up his own nation, an independent nation.These Negroes aren't asking for no nation.They're trying to crawl back on the plantation.When you want a nation, that's called nationalism.When the white man became involved in a revolution in this country against England, what was it for? He wanted this land so he could set up another white nation.That's white nationalism.The American Revolution was white nationalism.The French Revolution was white nationalism.The Russian Revolution too--yes, it was--white nationalism.You don't think so? Why [do] you think Khrushchev and Mao can't get their heads together? White nationalism.All the revolutions that's going on in Asia and Africa today are based on what? Black nationalism.A revolutionary is a black nationalist.He wants a nation.I was reading some beautiful words by Reverend Cleage, pointing out why he couldn't get together with someone else here in the city because all of them were afraid of being identified with black nationalism.If you're afraid of black nationalism, you're afraid of revolution.And if you love revolution, you love black nationalism.To understand this, you have to go back to what [the] young brother here referred to as the house Negro and the field Negro--back during slavery.There was two kinds of slaves.There was the house Negro and the field Negro.The house Negroes-they lived in the house with master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good 'cause they ate his food--what he left.They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near the master;and they loved their master more than the master loved himself.They would give their life to save the master's house quicker than the master would.The house Negro, if the master said, “We got a good house here,” the house Negro would say, “Yeah, we got a good house here.” Whenever the master said “we,” he said “we.” That's how you can tell a house Negro.If the master's house caught on fire, the house Negro would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would.If the master got sick, the house Negro would say, “What's the matter, boss, we sick?” We sick!He identified himself with his master more than his master identified with himself.And if you came to the house Negro and said, “Let's run away, let's escape, let's separate,” the house Negro would look at you and say, “Man, you crazy.What you mean, separate? Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this? Where can I eat better food than this?” That was that house Negro.In those days he was called a “house nigger.” And that's what we call him today, because we've still got some house niggers running around here.This modern house Negro loves his master.He wants to live near him.He'll pay three times as much as the house is worth just to live near his master, and then brag about “I'm the only Negro out here.” “I'm the only one on my job.” “I'm the only one in this school.” You're nothing but a house Negro.And if someone comes to you right now and says, “Let's separate,” you say the same thing that the house Negro said on the plantation.“What you mean, separate? From America? This good white man? Where you going to get a better job than you get here?” I mean, this is what you say.“I ain't left nothing in Africa,” that's what you say.Why, you left your mind in Africa.On that same plantation, there was the field Negro.The field Negro--those were the masses.There were always more Negroes in the field than there was Negroes in the house.The Negro in the field caught hell.He ate leftovers.In the house they ate high up on the hog.The Negro in the field didn't get nothing but what was left of the insides of the hog.They call 'em “chitt'lin'” nowadays.In those days they called them what they were: guts.That's what you were--a gut-eater.And some of you all still gut-eaters.The field Negro was beaten from morning to night.He lived in a shack, in a hut;He wore old, castoff clothes.He hated his master.I say he hated his master.He

was intelligent.That house Negro loved his master.But that field Negro--remember, they were in the majority, and they hated the master.When the house caught on fire, he didn't try and put it out;that field Negro prayed for a wind, for a breeze.When the master got sick, the field Negro prayed that he'd die.If someone come [sic] to the field Negro and said, “Let's separate, let's run,” he didn't say “Where we going?” He'd say, “Any place is better than here.” You've got field Negroes in America today.I'm a field Negro.The masses are the field Negroes.When they see this man's house on fire, you don't hear these little Negroes talking about “our government is in trouble.” They say, “The government is in trouble.” Imagine a Negro: “Our government”!I even heard one say “our astronauts.” They won't even let him near the plant--and “our astronauts”!“Our Navy”--that's a Negro that's out of his mind.That's a Negro that's out of his mind.Just as the slavemaster of that day used Tom, the house Negro, to keep the field Negroes in check, the same old slavemaster today has Negroes who are nothing but modern Uncle Toms, 20th century Uncle Toms, to keep you and me in check, keep us under control, keep us passive and peaceful and nonviolent.That's Tom making you nonviolent.It's like when you go to the dentist, and the man's going to take your tooth.You're going to fight him when he starts pulling.So he squirts some stuff in your jaw called novocaine, to make you think they're not doing anything to you.So you sit there and 'cause you've got all of that novocaine in your jaw, you suffer peacefully.Blood running all down your jaw, and you don't know what's happening.'Cause someone has taught you to suffer--peacefully.The white man do the same thing to you in the street, when he want [sic] to put knots on your head and take advantage of you and don't have to be afraid of your fighting back.To keep you from fighting back, he gets these old religious Uncle Toms to teach you and me, just like novocaine, suffer peacefully.Don't stop suffering--just suffer peacefully.As Reverend Cleage pointed out, “Let your blood flow In the streets.” This is a shame.And you know he's a Christian preacher.If it's a shame to him, you know what it is to me.There's nothing in our book, the Quran--you call it “Ko-ran”--that teaches us to suffer peacefully.Our religion teaches us to be intelligent.Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone;but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.That's a good religion.In fact, that's that old-time religion.That's the one that Ma and Pa used to talk about: an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and a head for a head, and a life for a life: That's a good religion.And doesn't nobody resent that kind of religion being taught but a wolf, who intends to make you his meal.This is the way it is with the white man in America.He's a wolf and you're sheep.Any time a shepherd, a pastor, teach [sic] you and me not to run from the white man and, at the same time, teach [sic] us not to fight the white man, he's a traitor to you and me.Don't lay down our life all by itself.No, preserve your life.it's the best thing you got.And if you got to give it up, let it be even-steven.The slavemaster took Tom and dressed him well, and fed him well, and even gave him a little education--a little education;gave him a long coat and a top hat and made all the other slaves look up to him.Then he used Tom to control them.The same strategy that was used in those days is used today, by the same white man.He takes a Negro, a so-called Negro, and make [sic] him prominent, build [sic] him up, publicize [sic] him, make [sic] him a celebrity.And then he becomes a spokesman for Negroes--and a Negro leader.I would like to just mention just one other thing else quickly, and that is the method that the white man uses, how the white man uses these “big guns,” or Negro leaders, against the black revolution.They are not a part of the black revolution.They're used against the black revolution.When Martin Luther King failed to desegregate Albany, Georgia, the civil-rights struggle in America reached its low point.King became bankrupt almost, as a leader.Plus, even financially, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was in financial trouble;plus it was in trouble, period, with the people when they failed to desegregate Albany, Georgia.Other Negro civil-rights leaders of so-called national stature became fallen idols.As they became fallen idols, began to lose their prestige and influence, local Negro leaders began to stir up the masses.In Cambridge, Maryland, Gloria Richardson;in Danville, Virginia, and other parts of the country, local leaders began to stir up our people at the grassroots level.This was never done by these Negroes, whom you recognize, of national stature.They controlled you, but they never incited you or excited you.They controlled you;they contained you;they kept you on the plantation.As soon as King failed in Birmingham, Negroes took to the streets.King got out and went out to California to a big rally and raised about--I don't know how many thousands of dollars.[He] come [sic] to Detroit and had a march and raised some more thousands of dollars.And recall, right after that [Roy] Wilkins attacked King, accused King and the CORE [Congress Of Racial Equality] of starting trouble everywhere and then making the NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] get them out of jail and spend a lot of money;and then they accused King and CORE of raising all the money and not paying it back.This happened;I've got it in documented evidence in the newspaper.Roy started attacking King, and King started attacking Roy, and Farmer started attacking both of them.And as these Negroes of national stature

began to attack each other, they began to lose their control of the Negro masses.And Negroes was [sic] out there in the streets.They was [sic] talking about [how] we was [sic] going to march on Washington.By the way, right at that time Birmingham had exploded, and the Negroes in Birmingham--remember, they also exploded.They began to stab the crackers in the back and bust them up 'side their head--yes, they did.That's when Kennedy sent in the troops, down in Birmingham.So, and right after that, Kennedy got on the television and said “this is a moral issue.” That's when he said he was going to put out a civil-rights bill.And when he mentioned civil-rights bill and the Southern crackers started talking about [how] they were going to boycott or filibuster it, then the Negroes started talking--about what? We're going to march on Washington, march on the Senate, march on the White House, march on the Congress, and tie it up, bring it to a halt;don't let the government proceed.They even said they was [sic] going out to the airport and lay down on the runway and don't let no airplanes land.I'm telling you what they said.That was revolution.That was revolution.That was the black revolution.It was the grass roots out there in the street.[It] scared the white man to death, scared the white power structure in Washington, D.C.to death;I was there.When they found out that this black steamroller was going to come down on the capital, they called in Wilkins;they called in Randolph;they called in these national Negro leaders that you respect and told them, “Call it off.” Kennedy said, “Look, you all letting this thing go too far.” And Old Tom said, “Boss, I can't stop it, because I didn't start it.” I'm telling you what they said.They said, “I'm not even in it, much less at the head of it.” They said, “These Negroes are doing things on their own.They're running ahead of us.” And that old shrewd fox, he said, “Well If you all aren't in it, I'll put you in it.I'll put you at the head of it.I'll endorse it.I'll welcome it.I'll help it.I'll join it.” A matter of hours went by.They had a meeting at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City.The Carlyle Hotel is owned by the Kennedy family;that's the hotel Kennedy spent the night at, two nights ago;[it] belongs to his family.A philanthropic society headed by a white man named Stephen Currier called all the top civil-rights leaders together at the Carlyle Hotel.And he told them that, “By you all fighting each other, you are destroying the civil-rights movement.And since you're fighting over money from white liberals, let us set up what is known as the Council for United Civil Rights Leadership.Let's form this council, and all the civil-rights organizations will belong to it, and we'll use it for fund-raising purposes.” Let me show you how tricky the white man is.And as

soon as they got it formed, they elected Whitney Young as the chairman, and who [do] you think became the co-chairman? Stephen Currier, the white man, a millionaire.Powell was talking about it down at the Cobo [Hall] today.This is what he was talking about.Powell knows it happened.Randolph knows it happened.Wilkins knows it happened.King knows it happened.Everyone of that so-called Big Six--they know what happened.Once they formed it, with the white man over it, he promised them and gave them $800,000 to split up between the Big Six;and told them that after the march was over they'd give them $700,000 more.A million and a half dollars--split up between leaders that you've been following, going to jail for, crying crocodile tears for.And they're nothing but Frank James and Jesse James and the what-do-you-call-'em brothers.[As] soon as they got the setup organized, the white man made available to them top public relations experts;opened the news media across the country at their disposal;and then they begin [sic] to project these Big Six as the leaders of the march.Originally, they weren't even in the march.You was [sic ] talking this march talk on Hastings Street--Is Hastings Street still here?--on Hasting Street.You was [sic] talking the march talk on Lenox Avenue, and out on--What you call it?--Fillmore Street, and Central Avenue, and 32nd Street and 63rd Street.That's where the march talk was being talked.But the white man put the Big Six [at the] head of it;made them the march.They became the march.They took it over.And the first move they made after they took it over, they invited Walter Reuther, a white man;they invited a priest, a rabbi, and an old white preacher.Yes, an old white preacher.The same white element that put Kennedy in power--labor, the Catholics, the Jews, and liberal Protestants;[the] same clique that put Kennedy in power, joined the march on Washington.It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong.What you do? You integrate it with cream;you make it weak.If you pour too much cream in, you won't even know you ever had coffee.It used to be hot, it becomes cool.It used to be strong, it becomes weak.It used to wake you up, now it'll put you to sleep.This is what they did with the march on Washington.They joined it.They didn't integrate it;they infiltrated it.They joined it, became a part of it, took it over.And as they took it over, it lost its militancy.They ceased to be angry.They ceased to be hot.They ceased to be uncompromising.Why, it even ceased to be a march.It became a picnic, a circus.Nothing but a circus, with clowns and all.You had one right here in Detroit--I saw it on television--with clowns leading it, white clowns and black clowns.I know you don't like what I'm saying, but I'm going to tell you anyway.'Cause I can prove what I'm saying.If you think I'm telling you wrong, you bring me Martin Luther

King and A.Philip Randolph and James Farmer and those other three, and see if they'll deny it over a microphone.No, it was a sellout.It was a takeover.When James Baldwin came in from Paris, they wouldn't let him talk, 'cause they couldn't make him go by the script.Burt Lancaster read the speech that Baldwin was supposed to make;they wouldn't let Baldwin get up there, 'cause they know Baldwin's liable to say anything.They controlled it so tight--they told those Negroes what time to hit town, how to come, where to stop, what signs to carry, *what song to sing*, what speech they could make, and what speech they couldn't make;and then told them to get out town by sundown.And everyone of those Toms was out of town by sundown.Now I know you don't like my saying this.But I can back it up.It was a circus, a performance that beat anything Hollywood could ever do, the performance of the year.Reuther and those other three devils should get a Academy Award for the best actors 'cause they acted like they really loved Negroes and fooled a whole lot of Negroes.And the six Negro leaders should get an award too, for the best supporting cast.

第二篇：美国经典英文演讲一百篇

美国20世纪经典英语演讲100篇（MP3+文本）

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第三篇：美国经典英文演讲100篇

美国经典英文演讲100篇:Brandenburg Gate Address

时间:2008-6-12 10:19:20 来源:本站原创

作者:echo

(女宇航员选拔标准 | 招聘英语编辑)

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Ronald Reagan

Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate

delivered 12 June 1987, West Berlin

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio.(2)]

Thank you.Thank you, very much.Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty four years ago, President John F.Kennedy visited Berlin, and speaking to the people of this city and the world at the city hall.Well since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn to Berlin.And today, I, myself, make my second visit to your city.We come to Berlin, we American Presidents, because it's our duty to speak in this place of freedom.But I must confess, we’re drawn here by other things as well;by the feeling of history in this city--more than 500 years older than our own nation;by the beauty of the Grunewald and the Tiergarten;most of all, by your courage and determination.Perhaps the composer, Paul Linke, understood something about American Presidents.You see, like so many Presidents before me, I come here today because wherever I go, whatever I do: “Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin” [I still have a suitcase in Berlin.]

Our gathering today is being broadcast throughout Western Europe and North America.I understand that it is being seen and heard as well in the East.To those listening throughout Eastern Europe, I extend my warmest greetings and the good will of the American people.To those listening in East Berlin, a special word: Although I cannot be with you, I address my remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me.For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin.[There is only one Berlin.]

Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe.From the Baltic South, those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers.Farther south, there may be no visible, no obvious wall.But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same--still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state.Yet, it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly;here, cutting across your city, where the news photo and the television screen have imprinted this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the world.Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German separated from his fellow men.Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar.President Von Weizsäcker has said, “The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed.” Well today--today I say: As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind.Yet, I do not come here to lament.For I find in Berlin a message of hope, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph.In this season of spring in 1945, the people of Berlin emerged from their air-raid shelters to find devastation.Thousands of miles away, the people of the United States reached out to help.And in 1947 Secretary of State--as you've been told--George Marshall announced the creation of what would become known as the Marshall Plan.Speaking precisely 40 years ago this month, he said: “Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.”

In the Reichstag a few moments ago, I saw a display commemorating this 40th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.I was struck by a sign--the sign on a burnt-out, gutted structure that was being rebuilt.I understand that Berliners of my own generation can remember seeing signs like it dotted throughout the western sectors of the city.The sign read simply: “The Marshall Plan is helping here to strengthen the free world.” A strong, free world in the West--that dream became real.Japan rose from ruin to become an economic giant.Italy, France, Belgium--virtually every nation in Western Europe saw political and economic rebirth;the European Community was founded.In West Germany and here in Berlin, there took place an economic miracle, the Wirtschaftswunder.Adenauer, Erhard, Reuter, and other leaders understood the practical importance of liberty--that just as truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic freedom.The German leaders--the German leaders reduced tariffs, expanded free trade, lowered taxes.From 1950 to 1960 alone, the standard of living in West Germany and Berlin doubled.Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany: busy office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of parkland.Where a city's culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, countless theaters, and museums.Where there was want, today there's abundance--food, clothing, automobiles--the wonderful goods of the Kudamm.¹ From devastation, from utter ruin, you Berliners have, in freedom, rebuilt a city that once again ranks as one of the greatest on earth.Now the Soviets may have had other plans.But my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn't count on: Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner Schnauze.[Berliner heart, Berliner humor, yes, and a Berliner Schnauze.²]

In the 1950s--In the 1950s Khrushchev predicted: “We will bury you.”

But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history.In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind--too little food.Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself.After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity.Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace.Freedom is the victor.And now--now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom.We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness.Some political prisoners have been released.Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed.Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness;for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty--the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace.There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate.Mr.Gorbachev, open this gate.Mr.Gorbachev--Mr.Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

I understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict this continent, and I pledge to you my country's efforts to help overcome these burdens.To be sure, we in the West must resist Soviet expansion.So, we must maintain defenses of unassailable strength.Yet we seek peace;so we must strive to reduce arms on both sides.Beginning 10 years ago, the Soviets challenged the Western alliance with a grave new threat, hundreds of new and more deadly SS-20 nuclear missiles capable of striking every capital in Europe.The Western alliance responded by committing itself to a counter-deployment(unless the Soviets agreed to negotiate a better solution)--namely, the elimination of such weapons on both sides.For many months, the Soviets refused to bargain in earnestness.As the alliance, in turn, prepared to go forward with its counter-deployment, there were difficult days, days of protests like those during my 1982 visit to this city;and the Soviets later walked away from the table.But through it all, the alliance held firm.And I invite those who protested then--I invite those who protest today--to mark this fact: Because we remained strong, the Soviets came back to the table.Because we remained strong, today we have within reach the possibility, not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.As I speak, NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland to review the progress of our proposals for eliminating these weapons.At the talks in Geneva, we have also proposed deep cuts in strategic offensive weapons.And the Western allies have likewise made far-reaching proposals to reduce the danger of conventional war and to place a total ban on chemical weapons.While we pursue these arms reductions, I pledge to you that we will maintain the capacity to deter Soviet aggression at any level at which it might occur.And in cooperation with many of our allies, the United States is pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative--research to base deterrence not on the threat of offensive retaliation, but on defenses that truly defend;on systems, in short, that will not target populations, but shield them.By these means we seek to increase the safety of Europe and all the world.But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed;we are armed because we mistrust each other.And our differences are not about weapons but about liberty.When President Kennedy spoke at the City Hall those 24 years ago, freedom was encircled;Berlin was under siege.And today, despite all the pressures upon this city, Berlin stands secure in its liberty.And freedom itself is transforming the globe.In the Philippines, in South and Central America, democracy has been given a rebirth.Throughout the Pacific, free markets are working miracle after miracle of economic growth.In the industrialized nations, a technological revolution is taking place, a revolution marked by rapid, dramatic advances in computers and telecommunications.In Europe, only one nation and those it controls refuse to join the community of freedom.Yet in this age of redoubled economic growth, of information and innovation, the Soviet Union faces a choice: It must make fundamental changes, or it will become obsolete.Today, thus, represents a moment of hope.We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safer, freer world.And surely there is no better place than Berlin, the meeting place of East and West, to make a start.Free people of Berlin: Today, as in the past, the United States stands for the strict observance and full implementation of all parts of the Four Power Agreement of 1971.Let us use this occasion, the 750th anniversary of this city, to usher in a new era, to seek a still fuller, richer life for the Berlin of the future.Together, let us maintain and develop the ties between the Federal Republic and the Western sectors of Berlin, which is permitted by the 1971 agreement.And I invite Mr.Gorbachev: Let us work to bring the Eastern and Western parts of the city closer together, so that all the inhabitants of all Berlin can enjoy the benefits that come with life in one of the great cities of the world.To open Berlin still further to all Europe, East and West, let us expand the vital air access to this city, finding ways of making commercial air service to Berlin more convenient, more comfortable, and more economical.We look to the day when West Berlin can become one of the chief aviation hubs in all central Europe.With--With our French--With our French and British partners, the United States is prepared to help bring international meetings to Berlin.It would be only fitting for Berlin to serve as the site of United Nations meetings, or world conferences on human rights and arms control, or other issues that call for international cooperation.There is no better way to establish hope for the future than to enlighten young minds, and we would be honored to sponsor summer youth exchanges, cultural events, and other programs for young Berliners from the East.Our French and British friends, I'm certain, will do the same.And it's my hope that an authority can be found in East Berlin to sponsor visits from young people of the Western sectors.One final proposal, one close to my heart: Sport represents a source of enjoyment and ennoblement, and you may have noted that the Republic of Korea--South Korea--has offered to permit certain events of the 1988 Olympics to take place in the North.International sports competitions of all kinds could take place in both parts of this city.And what better way to demonstrate to the world the openness of this city than to offer in some future year to hold the Olympic games here in Berlin, East and West.In these four decades, as I have said, you Berliners have built a great city.You've done so in spite of threats--the Soviet attempts to impose the East-mark, the blockade.Today the city thrives in spite of the challenges implicit in the very presence of this wall.What keeps you here? Certainly there's a great deal to be said for your fortitude, for your defiant courage.But I believe there's something deeper, something that involves Berlin's whole look and feel and way of life--not mere sentiment.No one could live long in Berlin without being completely disabused of illusions.Something, instead, that has seen the difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence, that refuses to release human energies or aspirations, something that speaks with a powerful voice of affirmation, that says “yes” to this city, yes to the future, yes to freedom.In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin--is “love.”

Love both profound and abiding.Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental distinction of all between East and West.The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship.The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront.Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz.Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower's one major flaw: treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind.Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere, that sphere that towers over all Berlin, the light makes the sign of the cross.There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner(quote):

“This wall will fall.Beliefs become reality.”

Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall, for it cannot withstand faith;it cannot withstand truth.The wall cannot withstand freedom.And I would like, before I close, to say one word.I have read, and I have been questioned since I've been here about certain demonstrations against my coming.And I would like to say just one thing, and to those who demonstrate so.I wonder if they have ever asked themselves that if they should have the kind of government they apparently seek, no one would ever be able to do what they're doing again.Thank you and God bless you all.Thank you.美国经典英文演讲100篇:Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Address

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William Jefferson Clinton

Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Prayer Service Address

delivered 23 April 1995 in Oklahoma City, OK

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio.(2)]

Thank you very much, Governor Keating and Mrs.Keating, Reverend Graham, to the families of those who have been lost and wounded, to the people of Oklahoma City, who have endured so much, and the people of this wonderful state, to all of you who are here as our fellow Americans.I am honored to be here today to represent the American people.But I have to tell you that Hillary and I also come as parents, as husband and wife, as people who were your neighbors for some of the best years of our lives.Today our nation joins with you in grief.We mourn with you.We share your hope against hope that some may still survive.We thank all those who have worked so heroically to save lives and to solve this crime--those here in Oklahoma and those who are all across this great land, and many who left their own lives to come here to work hand in hand with you.We pledge to do all we can to help you heal the injured, to rebuild this city, and to bring to justice those who did this evil.This terrible sin took the lives of our American family, innocent children in that building, only because their parents were trying to be good parents as well as good workers;citizens in the building going about their daily business;and many there who served the rest of us--who worked to help the elderly and the disabled, who worked to support our farmers and our veterans, who worked to enforce our laws and to protect us.Let us say clearly, they served us well, and we are grateful.But for so many of you they were also neighbors and friends.You saw them at church or the PTA meetings, at the civic clubs, at the ball park.You know them in ways that all the rest of America could not.And to all the members of the families here present who have suffered loss, though we share your grief, your pain is unimaginable, and we know that.We cannot undo it.That is God's work.Our words seem small beside the loss you have endured.But I found a few I wanted to share today.I've received a lot of letters in these last terrible days.One stood out because it came from a young widow and a mother of three whose own husband was murdered with over 200 other Americans when Pan Am 103 was shot down.Here is what that woman said I should say to you today:

The anger you feel is valid, but you must not allow yourselves to be consumed by it.The hurt you feel must not be allowed to turn into hate, but instead into the search for justice.The loss you feel must not paralyze your own lives.Instead, you must try to pay tribute to your loved ones by continuing to do all the things they left undone, thus ensuring they did not die in vain.Wise words from one who also knows.You have lost too much, but you have not lost everything.And you have certainly not lost America, for we will stand with you for as many tomorrows as it takes.If ever we needed evidence of that, I could only recall the words of Governor and Mrs.Keating: “If anybody thinks that Americans are mostly mean and selfish, they ought to come to Oklahoma.If anybody thinks Americans have lost the capacity for love and caring and courage, they ought to come to Oklahoma.”

To all my fellow Americans beyond this hall, I say, one thing we owe those who have sacrificed is the duty to purge ourselves of the dark forces which gave rise to this evil.They are forces that threaten our common peace, our freedom, our way of life.Let us teach our children that the God of comfort is also the God of righteousness: Those who trouble their own house will inherit the wind.¹ Justice will prevail.Let us let our own children know that we will stand against the forces of fear.When there is talk of hatred, let us stand up and talk against it.When there is talk of violence, let us stand up and talk against it.In the face of death, let us honor life.As St.Paul admonished us, Let us “not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”²

Yesterday, Hillary and I had the privilege of speaking with some children of other federal employees--children like those who were lost here.And one little girl said something we will never forget.She said, “We should all plant a tree in memory of the children.” So this morning before we got on the plane to come here, at the White House, we planted that tree in honor of the children of Oklahoma.It was a dogwood with its wonderful spring flower and its deep, enduring roots.It embodies the lesson of the Psalms--that the life of a good person is like a tree whose leaf does not wither.³

My fellow Americans, a tree takes a long time to grow, and wounds take a long time to heal.But we must begin.Those who are lost now belong to God.Some day we will be with them.But until that happens, their legacy must be our lives.Thank you all, and God bless you.

第四篇：美国经典英文演讲100篇The_Marshall_Plan

美国经典英文演讲100篇:“The Marshall Plan”George C.Marshall

The Marshall Plan

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio.]

Mr.President, Dr.Conant, members of the Board of Overseers, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am profoundly grateful, touched by the great distinction and honor and great compliment accorded me by the authorities of Harvard this morning.I am overwhelmed, as a matter of fact, and I am rather fearful of my inability to maintain such a high rating as you've been generous enough to accord to me.In these historic and lovely surroundings, this perfect day, and this very wonderful assembly, it is a tremendously impressive thing to an individual in my position.But to speak more seriously, I need not tell you that the world situation is very serious.That must be apparent to all intelligent people.I think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation.Furthermore, the people of this country are distant from the troubled areas of the earth, and it is hard for them to comprehend the plight and consequent reactions of the long-suffering peoples of Europe and the effect of those

reactions on their governments in connection with our efforts to promote peace in the world.In considering the requirements for the rehabilitation of Europe, the physical loss of life, the visible destruction of cities, factories, mines, and railroads was correctly estimated, but it has become obvious during recent months that this visible destruction was probably less serious than the dislocation of the entire fabric of European economy.For the past ten years conditions have been highly abnormal.The feverish preparation for war and the more feverish maintenance of the war effort engulfed all aspects of

national economies.Machinery has fallen into disrepair or is entirely obsolete.Under the arbitrary and destructive Nazi rule, virtually every possible enterprise was geared into the German war machine.Long-standing commercial ties, private

institutions, banks, insurance companies, and shipping companies disappeared through loss of capital, absorption through nationalization, or by simple destruction.In many countries, confidence in the local currency has been severely shaken.The breakdown of the business structure of Europe during the war was complete.Recovery has been seriously

retarded by the fact that two years after the close of hostilities a peace settlement with Germany and Austria has not been

agreed upon.But even given a more prompt solution of these difficult problems, the rehabilitation of the economic structure of Europe quite evidently will require a much longer time and greater effort than had been foreseen.There is a phase of this matter which is both interesting and serious.The farmer has always produced the foodstuffs to exchange with the city dweller for the other necessities of life.This division of labor is the basis of modern civilization.At the present time it is threatened with breakdown.The town and city industries are not producing adequate goods to exchange with the food-producing farmer.Raw materials and fuel are in short supply.Machinery, as I have said, is lacking or worn out.The farmer or the peasant cannot find the goods for sale which he desires to purchase.So the sale of his farm produce for money which he cannot use seems to him an unprofitable transaction.He, therefore, has withdrawn many fields from crop cultivation and he's using them for grazing.He feeds more grain to stock and finds for himself and his family an ample supply of food, however short he may be on clothing and the other ordinary gadgets of civilization.Meanwhile, people in the cities are short of food and fuel, and in some places approaching the starvation levels.So, the

governments are forced to use their foreign money and credits to procure these necessities abroad.This process exhausts funds which are urgently needed for reconstruction.Thus, a very serious situation is rapidly developing which bodes no good

for the world.The modern system of the division of labor upon which the exchange of products is based is in danger of breaking down.The truth of the matter is that Europe's requirements for the next three or four years of foreign food and other essential products--principally from America--are so much greater than her present ability to pay that she must have substantial additional help or face economic, social, and political

deterioration of a very grave character.The remedy seems to lie in breaking the vicious circle and

restoring the confidence of the people of Europe in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole.The manufacturer and the farmer throughout wide areas must be able and willing to exchange their product for currencies, the continuing value of which is not open to question.Aside from the demoralizing effect on the world at large and the possibilities of disturbances arising as a result of the desperation of the people concerned, the consequences to the economy of the United States should be apparent to all.It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace.Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.Such assistance, I am convinced, must not be on a piecemeal basis, as various crises develop.Any assistance that this Government may render in the future should provide a cure rather than a mere palliative.Any government that is willing to assist in the task of recovery will find full cooperation, I am sure, on the part of the United States Government.Any government which maneuvers to block the recovery of other countries cannot expect help from us.Furthermore, governments, political parties, or groups which seek to perpetuate human misery in order to profit there from politically or otherwise will encounter the opposition of the United States.It is already evident that before the United States Government can proceed much further in its efforts to alleviate the situation and help start the European world on its way to recovery, there must be some agreement among the countries of Europe as to the requirements of the situation and the part those countries themselves will take in order to give a proper effect to whatever actions might be undertaken by this Government.It would be neither fitting nor efficacious for our Government to undertake to draw up unilaterally a program designed to place Europe on its feet economically.This is the business of the Europeans.The initiative, I think, must come from Europe.The role of this country should consist of friendly aid in the drafting of a

European program and of later support of such a program so far as it may be practical for us to do so.The program should be a joint one, agreed to by a number, if not all, European nations.An essential part of any successful action on the part of the United States is an understanding on the part of the people of America of the character of the problem and the remedies to be applied.Political passion and prejudice should have no part.With foresight, and a willingness on the part of our people to face up to the vast responsibility which history has clearly

placed upon our country, the difficulties I have outlined can and will be overcome.I am sorry that on each occasion I have said something publicly in regard to our international situation, I have been forced by the necessities of the case to enter into rather technical

discussions.But, to my mind, it is of vast importance that our people reach some general understanding of what the

complications really are, rather than react from a passion or a prejudice or an emotion of the moment.As I said more formally a moment ago, we are remote from the scene of these troubles.It is virtually impossible at this distance merely by reading, or listening, or even seeing photographs and motion pictures, to grasp at all the real significance of the situation.And yet the whole world of the future hangs on a proper judgment.It hangs, I think, to a large extent on the realization of the American people, of just what are the various

dominant factors.What are the reactions of the people? What are the justifications of those reactions? What are the sufferings? What is needed? What can best be done? What must be done? Thank you very much.

第五篇：美国经典英文演讲100篇1988_DNC_Address

美国经典英文演讲100篇:1988 DNC Address

Take New York, the dynamic metropolis.What makes New York so special? It's the invitation at the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses who yearn to breathe free.” Not restricted to English only.Many people, many cultures, many languages with one thing in common: They yearn to breathe free.Common ground.Tonight in Atlanta, for the first time in this century, we convene in the South;a state where Governors once stood in school house doors;where Julian Bond was denied a seat in the State Legislature because of his conscientious objection to the Vietnam War;a city that, through its five Black Universities, has graduated more black students than any city in the world.Atlanta, now a modern intersection of the New South.Common ground.That's the challenge of our party tonight--left wing, right wing.Progress will not come through boundless liberalism nor static conservatism, but at the critical mass of mutual survival--not at boundless liberalism nor static conservatism, but at the critical mass of mutual survival.It takes two wings to fly.Whether you're a hawk or a dove, you're just a bird living in the same environment, in the same world.The Bible teaches that when lions and lambs lie down together, none will be afraid, and there will be peace in the valley.It sounds impossible.Lions eat lambs.Lambs sensibly flee from lions.Yet even lions and lambs find common ground.Why? Because neither lions nor lambs want the forest to catch on fire.Neither lions nor lambs want acid rain to fall.Neither lions nor lambs can survive nuclear war.If lions and lambs can find common ground, surely we can as well--as civilized people.The only time that we win is when we come together.In 1960, John Kennedy, the late John Kennedy, beat Richard Nixon by only 112,000 votes--less than one vote per precinct.He won by the margin of our hope.He brought us together.He reached out.He had the courage to defy his advisors and inquire about Dr.King's jailing in Albany, Georgia.We won by the margin of our hope, inspired by courageous leadership.In 1964, Lyndon Johnson brought both wings together--the thesis, the antithesis, and the creative synthesis--and together we won.In 1976, Jimmy Carter unified us again, and we won.When do we not come together, we never win.In 1968, the division and despair in July led to our defeat in November.In 1980, rancor in the spring and the summer led to Reagan in the fall.When we divide, we cannot win.We must find common ground as the basis for survival and development and change and growth.Today when we debated, differed, deliberated, agreed to agree, agreed to disagree, when we had the good judgment to argue a case and then not self-destruct, George Bush was just a little further away from the White House and a little closer to private life.Tonight, I salute Governor Michael Dukakis.He has run--He has run a well-managed and a dignified campaign.No matter how tired or how tried, he always resisted the temptation to stoop to demagoguery.I've watched a good mind fast at work, with steel nerves, guiding his campaign out of the crowded field without appeal to the worst in us.I've watched his perspective grow as his environment has expanded.I've seen his toughness and tenacity close up.I know his commitment to public service.Mike Dukakis' parents were a doctor and a teacher;my parents a maid, a beautician, and a janitor.There's a great gap between Brookline, Massachusetts and Haney Street in the Fieldcrest Village housing projects in Greenville, South Carolina.He studied law;I studied theology.There are differences of religion, region, and race;differences in experiences and perspectives.But the genius of America is that out of the many we become one.Providence has enabled our paths to intersect.His foreparents came to America on immigrant ships;my foreparents came to

America on slave ships.But whatever the original ships, we're in the same boat tonight.Our ships could pass in the night--if we have a false sense of independence--or they could collide and crash.We would lose our passengers.We can seek a high reality and a greater good.Apart, we can drift on the broken pieces of Reagonomics, satisfy our baser instincts, and exploit the fears of our people.At our highest, we can call upon noble instincts and navigate this vessel to safety.The greater good is the common good.As Jesus said, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” It was his way of saying there's a higher good beyond personal comfort or position.The good of our Nation is at stake.It's commitment to working men and women, to the poor and the vulnerable, to the many in the world.With so many guided missiles, and so much misguided leadership, the stakes are exceedingly high.Our choice? Full participation in a democratic government, or more abandonment and neglect.And so this night, we choose not a false sense of independence, not our capacity to survive and endure.Tonight we choose interdependency, and our capacity to act and unite for the greater good.Common good is finding commitment to new priorities to expansion and inclusion.A commitment to expanded participation in the Democratic Party at every level.A commitment to a shared national campaign strategy and involvement at every level.A commitment to new priorities that insure that hope will be kept alive.A common ground commitment to a legislative agenda for empowerment, for the John Conyers bill--universal, on-site, same-day registration everywhere.A commitment to D.C.statehood and empowerment--D.C.deserves statehood.A commitment to economic set-asides, commitment to the

Dellums bill for comprehensive sanctions against South Africa.A shared commitment to a common direction.Common ground.Easier said than done.Where do you find common ground? At the point of challenge.This campaign has shown that politics need not be marketed by politicians, packaged by pollsters and pundits.Politics can be a moral arena where people come together to find common ground.We find common ground at the plant gate that closes on workers without notice.We find common ground at the farm auction, where a good farmer loses his or her land to bad loans or diminishing markets.Common ground at the school yard where teachers cannot get adequate pay, and students cannot get a scholarship, and can't make a loan.Common ground at the hospital admitting room, where somebody tonight is dying because they cannot afford to go upstairs to a bed that's empty waiting for someone with insurance to get sick.We are a better nation than that.We must do better.Common ground.What is leadership if not present help in a time of crisis? And so I met you at the point of challenge.In Jay, Maine, where paper workers were striking for fair wages;in Greenville, Iowa, where family farmers struggle for a fair price;in Cleveland, Ohio, where working women seek comparable worth;in McFarland, California, where the children of Hispanic farm workers may be dying from poisoned land, dying in clusters with cancer;in an AIDS hospice in Houston, Texas, where the sick support one another, too often rejected by their own parents and friends.Common ground.America is not a blanket woven from one thread, one color, one cloth.When I was a child growing up in Greenville, South Carolina and grandmamma could not afford a blanket, she didn't complain and we did not freeze.Instead she took pieces of old cloth--patches, wool, silk, gabardine, crockersack--only patches, barely good enough to wipe off your shoes with.But they didn't stay that way very long.With

sturdy hands and a strong cord, she sewed them together into a quilt, a thing of beauty and power and culture.Now, Democrats, we must build such a quilt.Farmers, you seek fair prices and you are right--but you cannot stand alone.Your patch is not big enough.Workers, you fight for fair wages, you are right--but your patch labor is not big enough.Women, you seek comparable worth and pay equity, you are right--but your patch is not big enough.Women, mothers, who seek Head Start, and day care and prenatal care on the front side of life, relevant jail care and welfare on the back side of life, you are right--but your patch is not big enough.Students, you seek scholarships, you are right--but your patch is not big enough.Blacks and Hispanics, when we fight for civil rights, we are right--but our patch is not big enough.Gays and lesbians, when you fight against discrimination and a cure for AIDS, you are right--but your patch is not big enough.Conservatives and progressives, when you fight for what you believe, right wing, left wing, hawk, dove, you are right from your point of view, but your point of view is not enough.But don't despair.Be as wise as my grandmamma.Pull the patches and the pieces together, bound by a common thread.When we form a great quilt of unity and common ground, we'll have the power to bring about health care and housing and jobs and education and hope to our Nation.We, the people, can win.We stand at the end of a long dark night of reaction.We stand tonight united in the commitment to a new direction.For almost eight years we've been led by those who view social good

coming from private interest, who view public life as a means to increase private wealth.They have been prepared to sacrifice the common good of the many to satisfy the private interests and the wealth of a few.We believe in a government that's a tool of our democracy in service to the public, not an instrument of the aristocracy in search of private wealth.We believe in government with the consent of the governed, “of, for and by the people.” We must now emerge into a new day with a new direction.Reaganomics: Based on the belief that the rich had too much money [sic]--too little money and the poor had too much.That's classic Reaganomics.They believe that the poor had too much money and the rich had too little money,-so they engaged in reverse Robin Hood-took from the poor, gave to the rich, paid for by the middle class.We cannot stand four more years of Reaganomics in any version, in any disguise.How do I document that case? Seven years later, the richest 1 percent of our society pays 20 percent less in taxes.The poorest 10 percent pay 20 percent more: Reaganomics.Reagan gave the rich and the powerful a multibillion-dollar party.Now the party is over.He expects the people to pay for the damage.I take this principal position, convention, let us not raise taxes on the poor and the middle-class, but those who had the party, the rich and the powerful, must pay for the party.I just want to take common sense to high places.We're spending one hundred and fifty billion dollars a year defending Europe and Japan 43 years after the war is over.We have more troops in Europe tonight than we had seven years ago.Yet the threat of war is ever more remote.Germany and Japan are now creditor nations;that means they've got a surplus.We are a debtor nation--means we are in debt.Let them share more of the burden of their own defense.Use some of that money to build decent housing.Use some of that money to educate our children.Use some of that money for

long-term health care.Use some of that money to wipe out these slums and put America back to work!I just want to take common sense to high places.If we can bail out Europe and Japan;if we can bail out Continental Bank and Chrysler--and Mr.Iacocca, make [sic] 8,000 dollars an hour--we can bail out the family farmer.I just want to make common sense.It does not make sense to close down six hundred and fifty thousand family farms in this country while importing food from abroad subsidized by the U.S.Government.Let's make sense.It does not make sense to be escorting all our tankers up and down the Persian Gulf paying $2.50 for every one dollar worth of oil we bring out, while oil wells are capped in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.I just want to make sense.Leadership must meet the moral challenge of its day.What's the moral challenge of our day? We have public accommodations.We have the right to vote.We have open housing.What's the fundamental challenge of our day? It is to end economic violence.Plant closings without notice--economic violence.Even the greedy do not profit long from greed--economic violence.Most poor people are not lazy.They are not black.They are not brown.They are mostly White and female and young.But whether White, Black or Brown, a hungry baby's belly turned inside out is the same color--color it pain;color it hurt;color it agony.Most poor people are not on welfare.Some of them are illiterate and can't read the want-ad sections.And when they can, they can't find a job that matches the address.They work hard everyday.I know.I live amongst them.I'm one of them.I know they work.I'm a witness.They catch the early bus.They work every day.They raise other people's children.They work everyday.They clean the streets.They work everyday.They drive dangerous cabs.They work everyday.They change the beds you slept in in these hotels last night and can't get a union contract.They work everyday.No, no, they are not lazy!Someone must defend them because it's right, and they cannot speak for themselves.They work in hospitals.I know they do.They wipe the bodies of those who are sick with fever and pain.They empty their bedpans.They clean out their commodes.No job is beneath them, and yet when they get sick they cannot lie in the bed they made up every day.America, that is not right.We are a better Nation than that.We are a better Nation than that.We need a real war on drugs.You can't “just say no.” It's deeper than that.You can't just get a palm reader or an astrologer.It's more profound than that.We are spending a hundred and fifty billion dollars on drugs a year.We've gone from ignoring it to focusing on the children.Children cannot buy a hundred and fifty billion dollars worth of drugs a year;a few high-profile athletes--athletes are not laundering a hundred and fifty billion dollars a year--bankers are.I met the children in Watts, who, unfortunately, in their despair, their grapes of hope have become raisins of despair, and they're turning on each other and they're self-destructing.But I stayed with them all night long.I wanted to hear their case.They said, “Jesse Jackson, as you challenge us to say no to drugs, you're right;and to not sell them, you're right;and not use these guns, you're right.”(And by the way, the promise of CETA [Comprehensive Employment and Training Act];they displaced CETA--they did not replace CETA.)“We have neither jobs nor houses nor services nor training--no way out.Some of us take drugs as anesthesia for our pain.Some take drugs as a way of pleasure, good short-term pleasure and long-term pain.Some sell drugs to make money.It's wrong, we know, but you need to know that we know.We can go and buy the drugs by the boxes at the port.If we can buy the drugs at the port, don't you believe the Federal government can stop it if they want to?” They say, “We don't have Saturday night specials anymore.” They say, “We buy AK47's and Uzi's, the latest make of weapons.We buy them across the along these boulevards.” You cannot fight a war on drugs unless and until you're going to challenge the bankers and the gun sellers and those who grow them.Don't just focus on the children;let's stop drugs at the level of supply and demand.We must end the scourge on the American Culture.Leadership.What difference will we make? Leadership.Cannot just go along to get along.We must do more than change Presidents.We must change direction.Leadership must face the moral challenge of our day.The nuclear war build-up is irrational.Strong leadership cannot desire to look tough and let that stand in the way of the pursuit of peace.Leadership must reverse the arms race.At least we should pledge no first use.Why? Because first use begets first retaliation.And that's mutual annihilation.That's not a rational way out.No use at all.Let's think it out and not fight it our because it's an unwinnable fight.Why hold a card that you can never drop? Let's give peace a chance.Leadership.We now have this marvelous opportunity to have a breakthrough with the Soviets.Last year 200,000 Americans visited the Soviet Union.There's a chance for joint ventures into space--not Star Wars and war arms escalation but a space defense initiative.Let's build in the space together and demilitarize the heavens.There's a way out.America, let us expand.When Mr.Reagan and Mr.Gorbachev met there was a big meeting.They represented together one-eighth of the human race.Seven-eighths of the human race

was locked out of that room.Most people in the world tonight--half are Asian, one-half of them are Chinese.There are 22 nations in the Middle East.There's Europe;40 million Latin Americans next door to us;the Caribbean;Africa--a half-billion people.Most people in the world today are Yellow or Brown or Black, non-Christian, poor, female, young and don't speak English in the real world.This generation must offer leadership to the real world.We're losing ground in Latin America, Middle East, South Africa because we're not focusing on the real world.That's the real world.We must use basic principles--support international law.We stand the most to gain from it.Support human rights--we believe in that.Support self-determination--we're built on that.Support economic development--you know it's right.Be consistent and gain our moral authority in the world.I challenge you tonight, my friends, let's be bigger and better as a Nation and as a Party.We have basic challenges--freedom in South Africa.We've already agreed as Democrats to declare South Africa to be a terrorist state.But don't just stop there.Get South Africa out of Angola;free Namibia;support the front line states.We must have a new humane human rights consistent policy in Africa.I'm often asked, “Jesse, why do you take on these tough issues? They're not very political.We can't win that way.” If an issue is morally right, it will eventually be political.It may be political and never be right.Fannie Lou Hamer didn't have the most votes in Atlantic City, but her principles have outlasted every delegate who voted to lock her out.Rosa Parks did not have the most votes, but she was morally right.Dr.King didn't have the most votes about the Vietnam War, but he was morally right.If we are principled first, our politics will fall in place.“Jesse, why do you take these big bold initiatives?” A poem by an unknown author went something like this: “We mastered the

air, we conquered the sea, annihilated distance and prolonged life, but we're not wise enough to live on this earth without war and without hate.” As for Jesse Jackson: “I'm tired of sailing my little boat, far inside the harbor bar.I want to go out where the big ships float, out on the deep where the great ones are.And should my frail craft prove too slight for waves that sweep those billows o'er, I'd rather go down in the stirring fight than drowse to death at the sheltered shore.” We've got to go out, my friends, where the big boats are.And then for our children.Young America, hold your head high now.We can win.We must not lose you to drugs and violence, premature pregnancy, suicide, cynicism, pessimism and despair.We can win.Wherever you are tonight, I challenge you to hope and to dream.Don't submerge your dreams.Exercise above all else, even on drugs, dream of the day you are drug free.Even in the gutter, dream of the day that you will be up on your feet again.You must never stop dreaming.Face reality, yes, but don't stop with the way things are.Dream of things as they ought to be.Dream.Face pain, but love, hope, faith and dreams will help you rise above the pain.Use hope and imagination as weapons of survival and progress, but you keep on dreaming, young America.Dream of peace.Peace is rational and reasonable.War is irrationable [sic] in this age, and unwinnable.Dream of teachers who teach for life and not for a living.Dream of doctors who are concerned more about public health than private wealth.Dream of lawyers more concerned about justice than a judgeship.Dream of preachers who are concerned more about prophecy than profiteering.Dream on the high road with sound values.And then America, as we go forth to September, October, November and then beyond, America must never surrender to a high moral challenge.Do not surrender to drugs.The best drug policy is a “no first use.” Don't surrender with needles and cynicism.Let's have “no first use” on the one hand, or clinics on the other.Never surrender, young America.Go forward.America must never surrender to malnutrition.We can feed the hungry and clothe the naked.We must never surrender.We must go forward.We must never surrender to illiteracy.Invest in our children.Never surrender;and go forward.We must never surrender to inequality.Women cannot compromise ERA or comparable worth.Women are making 60 cents on the dollar to what a man makes.Women cannot buy meat cheaper.Women cannot buy bread cheaper.Women cannot buy milk cheaper.Women deserve to get paid for the work that you do.It's right!And it's fair.Don't surrender, my friends.Those who have AIDS tonight, you deserve our compassion.Even with AIDS you must not surrender.In your wheelchairs.I see you sitting here tonight in those wheelchairs.I've stayed with you.I've reached out to you across our Nation.And don't you give up.I know it's tough sometimes.People look down on you.It took you a little more effort to get here tonight.And no one should look down on you, but sometimes mean people do.The only justification we have for looking down on someone is that we're going to stop and pick them up.But even in your wheelchairs, don't you give up.We cannot forget 50 years ago when our backs were against the wall, Roosevelt was in a wheelchair.I would rather have Roosevelt in a wheelchair than Reagan and Bush on a horse.Don't you surrender and don't you give up.Don't surrender and don't give up!Why I cannot challenge you this way? “Jesse Jackson, you don't understand my situation.You be on television.You don't

understand.I see you with the big people.You don't understand my situation.” I understand.You see me on TV, but you don't know the me that makes me, me.They wonder, “Why does Jesse run?” because they see me running for the White House.They don't see the house I'm running from.I have a story.I wasn't always on television.Writers were not always outside my door.When I was born late one afternoon, October 8th, in Greenville, South Carolina, no writers asked my mother her name.Nobody chose to write down our address.My mama was not supposed to make it, and I was not supposed to make it.You see, I was born of a teen-age mother, who was born of a teen-age mother.I understand.I know abandonment, and people being mean to you, and saying you're nothing and nobody and can never be anything.I understand.Jesse Jackson is my third name.I'm adopted.When I had no name, my grandmother gave me her name.My name was Jesse Burns 'til I was 12.So I wouldn't have a blank space, she gave me a name to hold me over.I understand when nobody knows your name.I understand when you have no name.I understand.I wasn't born in the hospital.Mama didn't have insurance.I was born in the bed at [the] house.I really do understand.Born in a three-room house, bathroom in the backyard, slop jar by the bed, no hot and cold running water.I understand.Wallpaper used for decoration? No.For a windbreaker.I understand.I'm a working person's person.That's why I understand you whether you're Black or White.I understand work.I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth.I had a shovel programmed for my hand.My mother, a working woman.So many of the days she went to work early, with runs in her stockings.She knew better, but she

wore runs in her stockings so that my brother and I could have matching socks and not be laughed at at school.I understand.At 3 o'clock on Thanksgiving Day, we couldn't eat turkey because momma was preparing somebody else's turkey at 3 o'clock.We had to play football to entertain ourselves.And then around 6 o'clock she would get off the Alta Vista bus and we would bring up the leftovers and eat our turkey--leftovers, the carcass, the cranberries--around 8 o'clock at night.I really do understand.Every one of these funny labels they put on you, those of you who are watching this broadcast tonight in the projects, on the corners, I understand.Call you outcast, low down, you can't make it, you're nothing, you're from nobody, subclass, underclass;when you see Jesse Jackson, when my name goes in nomination, your name goes in nomination.I was born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me.And it wasn't born in you, and you can make it.Wherever you are tonight, you can make it.Hold your head high;stick your chest out.You can make it.It gets dark sometimes, but the morning comes.Don't you surrender!Suffering breeds character, character breeds faith.In the end faith will not disappoint.You must not surrender!You may or may not get there but just know that you're qualified!And you hold on, and hold out!We must never surrender！America will get better and better.Keep hope alive.Keep hope alive!Keep hope alive!On tomorrow night and beyond, keep hope alive!I love you very much.I love you very much.