第一篇：奥巴马在塞萨尔·查韦斯国家纪念碑奠基仪式上发表的演讲稿
奥巴马在塞萨尔·查韦斯国家纪念碑奠基仪式上发表的演讲
博雅源讲演（视频）网
Remarks by the President at the Dedication of the Cesar Chavez National Monument, Keene, CA
La Paz, Chavez National Monument
Keene, California THE PRESIDENT: Good morning!Buenos dias!(Applause.)Si, se puede!(Applause.)Thank you.Thank you so much.AUDIENCE: Four more years!Four more years!Four more years!THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody.Thank you so much.I am truly grateful to be here.It is such a great honor to be with you on this beautiful day, a day that has been a long time coming.To the members of the Chavez family and those who knew and loved Cesar;to the men and women who've worked so hard for so long to preserve this place--I want to say to all of you, thank you.Your dedication, your perseverance made this day possible.I want to acknowledge the members of my administration who have championed this project from the very beginning--Secretary Ken Salazar, Secretary Hilda Solis, Nancy Sutley.(Applause.)To Governor Brown, Mayor Villaraigosa--(applause)--Congressman Grijalva--they are here.We are grateful for your presence.And I also want to recognize my dear friend, somebody we're so proud of--Arturo Rodriguez, the current president of the UFW.(Applause.)Most of all, I want to thank Helen Chavez.(Applause.)In the years to come, generations of Americans will stand where we stand and see a piece of history--a tribute to a great man and a great movement.But to Helen, this will always be home.It’s where she fought alongside the man that she loved;where she raised eight children and spoiled 31 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.(Applause.)This is where she continues to live out the rest of her days.So, Helen, today we are your guests.We appreciate your hospitality, and you should feel free to kick us out whenever you want.(Laughter.)Today, La Paz joins a long line of national monuments--stretching from the Statue of Liberty to the Grand Canyon--monuments that tell the story of who we are as Americans.It's a story of natural wonders and modern marvels;of fierce battles and quiet progress.But it's also a story of people--of determined, fearless, hopeful people who have always been willing to devote their lives to making this country a little more just and a little more free.One of those people lies here, beneath a rose garden at the foot of a hill he used to climb to watch the sun rise.And so today we celebrate Cesar Chavez.(Applause.)Cesar would be the first to say that this is not a monument to one man.The movement he helped to lead was sustained by a generation of organizers who stood up and spoke out, and urged others to do the same--including the great Dolores Huerta, who is here today.(Applause.)It drew strength from Americans of every race and every background who marched and boycotted together on behalf of “La Causa.” And it was always inspired by the farm workers themselves, some of whom are with us.This place belongs to you, too.But the truth is we would not be here if it weren’t for Cesar.Growing up as the son of migrant workers who had lost their home in the Great Depression, Cesar wasn’t easy on his parents.He described himself as “caprichoso”--(laughter)--capricious.His brother Richard had another word for him--(applause)--stubborn.By the time he reached 7th grade, Cesar estimated he had attended 65 elementary schools, following the crop cycles with his family, working odd jobs, sometimes living in roadside tents without electricity or plumbing.It wasn’t an easy childhood.But Caesar always was different.While other kids could identify all the hottest cars, he memorized the names of labor leaders and politicians.After serving in the Navy during World War II, Cesar returned to the fields.And it was a time of great change in America, but too often that change was only framed in terms of war and peace, black and white, young and old.No one seemed to care about the invisible farm workers who picked the nation’s food--bent down in the beating sun, living in poverty, cheated by growers, abandoned in old age, unable to demand even the most basic rights.But Cesar cared.And in his own peaceful, eloquent way, he made other people care, too.A march that started in Delano with a handful of activists--(applause)--that march ended 300 miles away in Sacramento with a crowd 10,000 strong.(Applause.)A boycott of table grapes that began in California eventually drew 17 million supporters across the country, forcing growers to agree to some of the first farm worker contracts in history.Where there had once been despair, Cesar gave workers a reason to hope.“What [the growers] don't know,” he said, “is that it's not bananas or grapes or lettuce.It's people.” It’s people.More than higher wages or better working conditions, that was Cesar’s gift to us--a reminder that we are all God’s children, that every life has value, that, in the words of one of his heroes, Dr.King, “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” Cesar didn’t believe in helping those who refused to help themselves, but he did believe that when someone who works 12 hours a day in the fields can earn enough to put food on the table and maybe save up enough to buy a home, that that makes our communities stronger, that lifts up our entire economy.He believed that when a worker is treated fairly and humanely by their employer that adds meaning to the values this country was founded upon, and credence to the claim that out of many, we are one.And he believed that when a child anywhere in America can dream beyond her circumstances and work to realize that dream, it makes all our futures just a little bit brighter.(Applause.)It was that vision, that belief in the power of opportunity that drove Cesar every day of his life.It’s a vision that says, maybe I never had a chance to get a good education, but I want my daughter to go to college.Maybe I started out working in the fields, but someday I’ll own my own business.Maybe I have to make sacrifices, but those sacrifices are worth it if it means a better life for my family.That’s the story of my ancestors;that’s the story of your ancestors.It’s the promise that has attracted generations of immigrants to our shores from every corner of the globe, sometimes at great risk, drawn by the idea that no matter who you are, or what you look like, or where you come from, this is the place where you can make it if you try.(Applause.)Today, we have more work to do to fulfill that promise.The recession we're fighting our way back from is still taking a toll, especially in Latino communities, which already faced higher unemployment and poverty rates.Even with the strides we’ve made, too many workers are still being denied basic rights and simple respect.But thanks to the strength and character of the American people, we are making progress.Our businesses are creating more jobs.More Americans are getting back to work.And even though we have a difficult road ahead, I know we can keep moving forward together.(Applause.)I know it because Cesar himself worked for 20 years as an organizer without a single major victory--think about that--but he refused to give up.He refused to scale back his dreams.He just kept fasting and marching and speaking out, confident that his day would come.And when it finally did, he still wasn’t satisfied.After the struggle for higher wages, Cesar pushed for fresh drinking water and worker’s compensation, for pension plans and safety from pesticides--always moving, always striving for the America he knew we could be.More than anything, that’s what I hope our children and grandchildren will take away from this place.Every time somebody’s son or daughter comes and learns about the history of this movement, I want them to know that our journey is never hopeless, our work is never done.I want them to learn about a small man guided by enormous faith--in a righteous cause, a loving God, the dignity of every human being.I want them to remember that true courage is revealed when the night is darkest and the resistance is strongest and we somehow find it within ourselves to stand up for what we believe in.(Applause.)Cesar once wrote a prayer for the farm workers that ends with these words: Let the Spirit flourish and grow, So that we will never tire of the struggle.Let us remember those who have died for justice, For they have given us life.Help us love even those who hate, So we can change the world.(Applause.)Our world is a better place because Cesar Chavez decided to change it.Let us honor his memory.But most importantly, let’s live up to his example.(Applause.)Thank you.God bless you.(Applause.)God bless America.Si, se puede!(Applause.)AUDIENCE: Si, se puede!(Applause.)THE PRESIDENT: Si, se puede.(Applause.)AUDIENCE: Si, se puede!(Applause.)THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody.(Applause.)
第二篇：奥巴马在父亲节上的演讲稿
奥巴马在父亲节上的演讲稿
每年6月的第三个星期是父亲节，作为子女，应该反省过去的一年是否做到孝敬、关心父母；而作为父亲，也要审视自己是否尽了做父亲的职责。下面是美国现任总统奥巴马在2008年父亲节的精彩演讲节选，他强调了家庭的重要价值以及父亲家庭中所扮演的重要角色。不仅是父亲，家庭中的每一位成员都会感同身受并把自己的角色做得更好。
Of all the rocks upon witch we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most imortant.And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that foundation.They are teachers and coaches.They are mentors role models.They are examples of success and the men who constantly push us towared it.今天我们要记起来的是，在我们缔造生活所依赖的基石中，家庭是最重要的。我们必须认识并且认识和赞颂每一位父亲在这个基石中所起的关键作用。父亲既是老师又是教练；既是导师又是模范。既是成功的榜样，又是不断推动我们走向成功的人。
I say this knowing that I have been an imperfect father—knowing that I have made mistakes and will contiue to make more;wishing that I could be home for my girls and my wife more than I am right now.I say this knowing all of these things because even as we are imperfect ,even as we face diffcult circumstance ,there are still certain lessons we must strive to live and learn as fathers —whether we are black or white , poor or rich.我讲这些话时，心里明白我并非一个尽善尽美的父亲——我知道我犯过错误，并且还可能会犯更多错误；我希望我能比现在有更多的时间在家里陪伴我的女儿和太太。我心里明白这一切，应为纵然我们缺点多多，纵然我们面对重重困难，但有某些教训是我们身为人父者应该尽可能去体会与学习的——不管我们是黑人还是白人，富人还是穷人。
The first is setting an example of excellence for our children —because if we want to set high expectations for them , we've got to set hight expectations for ourselfs.It's great if you have a job;It's even better if you have a college degree;It's a wonderful thing if you are married and living in a home with your children ,but don't just sit in the house and watch “sports center” all weekend long;That's why so many children are growing up in front of television.As fathers and parents , we've got to spend more time with them, and help them with their homework , and replace video game or remote control with a book in a while.That's how we build that foundation.第一个教训是，给我们的子女树立一个卓越的榜样——因为如果我们对他们寄予厚望，那么我们自己也应该抱有同样高的期望。你有一份工作是件好事，有个大学文凭会更好。结了婚而又能跟孩子住在一起是再好不过了，但不要只是整个周末泡在家里看看“体育直播间”节目。许多孩子就是因为有这样的父亲而只能傍着电视机长大。作为父亲，作为家长，我们应该在他们身上花更多的时间，帮助他们完成作业，时不时地让他们抛开手中的游戏机或电视遥控器而捧上一本书。这就是我们要为建立那个基础所应该做的事情。
The second thing we need to do as fathers is pass along the value of empathy to our children.Not sympathy , but empathy — the ability to stand in somebody else's shoes;To look at the world through their eyes.Sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in “us”, that we forget about our obligations to one another.第二个教训是，身为人父，我们应该传递给我们的子女一种同理心的人生价值观。不是同情怜悯，而是同理心——能设身处地的为别人着想，将心比心；能透过别人的眼睛观察这个世界。有时候我们是如此轻易的执着于“我们”，而忘了我们彼此之间所应负担的责任。
And the final lesson we must learn as father is also the greatest gift we can pass on to our children----andthat is the gift of hope.我们身为人父应总结的最后一个教训，也是我们可以传给子女的最为贵重的礼物，就是希望
I am not talking about an idle hope that's little more than blind optimism or willful ignorance of the problems we face.I'm talking about hope as the spirit inside usthat insists, despite all evidence to the contray, that something better is waiting for us if we're willing to work for it and fight for it.If we are willing to believe.我将的希望不是空谈的希望，不是那种盲目的乐观主义或对我们面对的问题不加考虑。我讲的希望是那种寄托于我们内心的精神；坚信在逆境中只要愿意为之努力奋斗，情况就会变得好起来。只要我们怀有这种信念。
第三篇：奥巴马在马丁·路德金纪念碑落成典礼上的演讲
2011年10月16日美国总统奥巴马16日亲自为中国雕塑家雕塑的马丁·路德·金纪念碑揭幕，并发表演讲：“我们将超越！” 讲话呼吁美国人“团结”，继续金心目中的梦想。他还有感而发，希望国人继续挑战华尔街的过分做法，但不要妖魔化那里所有的工作人员。马丁·路德金是美国历史上著名的黑人民权领袖，他为美国黑人追求平等权利献出了生命。这也为日后奥巴马成功入主白宫铺平了道路，因此纪念马丁·路德金对黑人总统奥巴马而言，意义特殊。
这座雕像的作者是中国雕塑家雷宜锌，他的方案是从全世界52个国家2000多位雕塑家的900多个方案中脱颖而出的。
当天，第一夫人米歇尔、副总统拜登及其夫人吉尔以及马丁·路德·金的家人也参加了揭幕仪式。组织者估计有5万人参加了这次纪念活动。
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.(Applause.)Thank you.(Applause.)Please be seated.An earthquake and a hurricane may have delayed this day, but this is a day that would not be denied.For this day, we celebrate Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.’s return to the National Mall.In this place, he will stand for all time, among monuments to those who fathered this nation and those who defended it;a black preacher with no official rank or title who somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams and our most lasting ideals, a man who stirred our conscience and thereby helped make our union more perfect.And Dr.King would be the first to remind us that this memorial is not for him alone.The movement of which he was a part depended on an entire generation of leaders.Many are here today, and for their service and their sacrifice, we owe them our everlasting gratitude.This is a monument to your collective achievement.(Applause.)
Some giants of the civil rights movement ?-like Rosa Parks and Dorothy Height, Benjamin Hooks, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth ?-they’ve been taken from us these past few years.This monument attests to their strength and their courage, and while we miss them dearly, we know they rest in a better place.And finally, there are the multitudes of men and women whose names never appear in the history books ?-those who marched and those who sang, those who sat in and those who stood firm, those who organized and those who mobilized ?-all those men and women who through countless acts of quiet heroism helped bring about changes few thought were even possible.“By the thousands,” said Dr.King, “faceless, anonymous, relentless young people, black and white„have taken our whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in the formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.” To those men and women, to those foot soldiers for justice, know that this monument is yours, as well.Nearly half a century has passed since that historic March on Washington, a day when thousands upon thousands gathered for jobs and for freedom.That is what our schoolchildren remember best when they think of Dr.King-? his booming voice across this Mall, calling on America to make freedom a reality for all of God’s children, prophesizing of a day when the jangling discord of our nation would be transformed into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.It is right that we honor that march, that we lift up Dr.King’s “I Have a Dream” speech ?-for without that shining moment, without Dr.King’s glorious words, we might not have had the courage to come as far as we have.Because of that hopeful vision, because of Dr.King’s moral imagination, barricades began to fall and bigotry began to fade.New doors of opportunity swung open for an entire generation.Yes, laws changed, but hearts and minds changed, as well.Look at the faces here around you, and you see an America that is more fair and more free and more just than the one Dr.King addressed that day.We are right to savor that slow but certain progress-? progress that’s expressed itself in a million ways, large and small, across this nation every single day, as people of all colors and creeds live together, and work together, and fight alongside one another, and learn together, and build together, and love one another.So it is right for us to celebrate today Dr.King’s dream and his vision of unity.And yet it is also important on this day to remind ourselves that such progress did not come easily;that Dr.King’s faith was hard-won;that it sprung out of a harsh reality and some bitter disappointments.It is right for us to celebrate Dr.King’s marvelous oratory, but it is worth remembering that progress did not come from words alone.Progress was hard.Progress was purchased through enduring the smack of billy clubs and the blast of fire hoses.It was bought with days in jail cells and nights of bomb threats.For every victory during the height of the civil rights movement, there were setbacks and there were defeats.We forget now, but during his life, Dr.King wasn’t always considered a unifying figure.Even after rising to prominence, even after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr.King was vilified by many, denounced as a rabble rouser and an agitator, a communist and a radical.He was even attacked by his own people, by those who felt he was going too fast or those who felt he was going too slow;by those who felt he shouldn’t meddle in issues like the Vietnam War or the rights of union workers.We know from his own testimony the doubts and the pain this caused him, and that the controversy that would swirl around his actions would last until the fateful day he died.I raise all this because nearly 50 years after the March on Washington, our work, Dr.King’s work, is not yet complete.We gather here at a moment of great challenge and great change.In the first decade of this new century, we have been tested by war and by tragedy;by an economic crisis and its aftermath that has left millions out of work, and poverty on the rise, and millions more just struggling to get by.Indeed, even before this crisis struck, we had endured a decade of rising inequality and stagnant wages.In too many troubled neighborhoods across the country, the conditions of our poorest citizens appear little changed from what existed 50 years ago-? neighborhoods with underfunded schools and broken-down slums, inadequate health care, constant violence, neighborhoods in which too many young people grow up with little hope and few prospects for the future.Our work is not done.And so on this day, in which we celebrate a man and a movement that did so much for this country, let us draw strength from those earlier struggles.First and foremost, let us remember that change has never been quick.Change has never been simple, or without controversy.Change depends on persistence.Change requires determination.It took a full decade before the moral guidance of Brown v.Board of Education was translated into the enforcement measures of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, but those 10 long years did not lead Dr.King to give up.He kept on pushing, he kept on speaking, he kept on marching until change finally came.(Applause.)
And then when, even after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act passed, African Americans still found themselves trapped in pockets of poverty across the country, Dr.King didn’t say those laws were a failure;he didn’t say this is too hard;he didn’t say, let’s settle for what we got and go home.Instead he said, let’s take those victories and broaden our mission to achieve not just civil and political equality but also economic justice;let’s fight for a living wage and better schools and jobs for all who are willing to work.In other words, when met with hardship, when confronting disappointment, Dr.King refused to accept what he called the “isness” of today.He kept pushing towards the “oughtness” of tomorrow.And so, as we think about all the work that we must do ?-rebuilding an economy that can compete on a global stage, and fixing our schools so that every child--not just some, but every child--gets a world-class education, and making sure that our health care system is affordable and accessible to all, and that our economic system is one in which everybody gets a fair shake and everybody does their fair share, let us not be trapped by what is.(Applause.)We can’t be discouraged by what is.We’ve got to keep pushing for what ought to be, the America we ought to leave to our children, mindful that the hardships we face are nothing compared to those Dr.King and his fellow marchers faced 50 years ago, and that if we maintain our faith, in ourselves and in the possibilities of this nation, there is no challenge we cannot surmount.And just as we draw strength from Dr.King’s struggles, so must we draw inspiration from his constant insistence on the oneness of man;the belief in his words that “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” It was that insistence, rooted in his Christian faith, that led him to tell a group of angry young protesters, “I love you as I love my own children,” even as one threw a rock that glanced off his neck.It was that insistence, that belief that God resides in each of us, from the high to the low, in the oppressor and the oppressed, that convinced him that people and systems could change.It fortified his belief in non-violence.It permitted him to place his faith in a government that had fallen short of its ideals.It led him to see his charge not only as freeing black America from the shackles of discrimination, but also freeing many Americans from their own prejudices, and freeing Americans of every color from the depredations of poverty.And so at this moment, when our politics appear so sharply polarized, and faith in our institutions so greatly diminished, we need more than ever to take heed of Dr.King’s teachings.He calls on us to stand in the other person’s shoes;to see through their eyes;to understand their pain.He tells us that we have a duty to fight against poverty, even if we are well off;to care about the child in the decrepit school even if our own children are doing fine;to show compassion toward the immigrant family, with the knowledge that most of us are only a few generations removed from similar hardships.(Applause.)To say that we are bound together as one people, and must constantly strive to see ourselves in one another, is not to argue for a false unity that papers over our differences and ratifies an unjust status quo.As was true 50 years ago, as has been true throughout human history, those with power and privilege will often decry any call for change as “divisive.” They’ll say any challenge to the existing arrangements are unwise and destabilizing.Dr.King understood that peace without justice was no peace at all;that aligning our reality with our ideals often requires the speaking of uncomfortable truths and the creative tension of non-violent protest.But he also understood that to bring about true and lasting change, there must be the possibility of reconciliation;that any social movement has to channel this tension through the spirit of love and mutuality.If he were alive today, I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing all who work there;that the businessman can enter tough negotiations with his company’s union without vilifying the right to collectively bargain.He would want us to know we can argue fiercely about the proper size and role of government without questioning each other’s love for this country--(applause)--with the knowledge that in this democracy, government is no distant object but is rather an expression of our common commitments to one another.He would call on us to assume the best in each other rather than the worst, and challenge one another in ways that ultimately heal rather than wound.In the end, that’s what I hope my daughters take away from this monument.I want them to come away from here with a faith in what they can accomplish when they are determined and working for a righteous cause.I want them to come away from here with a faith in other people and a faith in a benevolent God.This sculpture, massive and iconic as it is, will remind them of Dr.King’s strength, but to see him only as larger than life would do a disservice to what he taught us about ourselves.He would want them to know that he had setbacks, because they will have setbacks.He would want them to know that he had doubts, because they will have doubts.He would want them to know that he was flawed, because all of us have flaws.It is precisely because Dr.King was a man of flesh and blood and not a figure of stone that he inspires us so.His life, his story, tells us that change can come if you don’t give up.He would not give up, no matter how long it took, because in the smallest hamlets and the darkest slums, he had witnessed the highest reaches of the human spirit;because in those moments when the struggle seemed most hopeless, he had seen men and women and children conquer their fear;because he had seen hills and mountains made low and rough places made plain, and the crooked places made straight and God make a way out of no way.And that is why we honor this man ?-because he had faith in us.And that is why he belongs on this Mall-? because he saw what we might become.That is why Dr.King was so quintessentially American--because for all the hardships we’ve endured, for all our sometimes tragic history, ours is a story of optimism and achievement and constant striving that is unique upon this Earth.And that is why the rest of the world still looks to us to lead.This is a country where ordinary people find in their hearts the courage to do extraordinary things;the courage to stand up in the face of the fiercest resistance and despair and say this is wrong, and this is right;we will not settle for what the cynics tell us we have to accept and we will reach again and again, no matter the odds, for what we know is possible.That is the conviction we must carry now in our hearts.(Applause.)As tough as times may be, I know we will overcome.I know there are better days ahead.I know this because of the man towering over us.I know this because all he and his generation endured--we are here today in a country that dedicated a monument to that legacy.And so with our eyes on the horizon and our faith squarely placed in one another, let us keep striving;let us keep struggling;let us keep climbing toward that promised land of a nation and a world that is more fair, and more just, and more equal for every single child of God.Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.(Applause.)
第四篇：美国新任总统奥巴马在就职典礼上发表演讲
美国新任总统奥巴马在就职典礼上发表演讲
我的国民：
我今天站在这，为我们眼前的任务感到谦卑，为你们给我的信任感激，为我们先人的牺牲不忘怀。我多谢乔治布什总统对国家的服务，以及他在整个权力过度过程展示的慷慨和合作。
至今44位美国人宣读过总统誓词。这些言词在繁荣潮起、在和平的风平浪静中说过，但很多时候，誓词是在阴霾密布中宣读。美国在这些时刻挺下去，不止是因为在位者的技巧或视野，而是因为我们人民坚信先人的理想，信守我们的立国文献。
过去如是，这一代美国人也如是。
我们正身陷危机，现在大家都很清楚了。国家正在打仗，对抗一个广大的暴力和仇恨网络。我们的经济严重地衰弱，是部份人贪婪和不负责任的结果，也是因为我们集体失败，未能作出艰难的决定，为国家进入新纪元作好准备。很多家没有了，工作被裁了，企业倒闭了。我们的医疗费太贵，我们的学校有负于太多人，每天都有新证据显示，我们用能源的方法，令我们的敌人强大，又威胁我们的星球。
这些都是危机的指针，有数据和统计。较难测量但同样影响深远的，是全国信心受重创，挥之不去的恐惧，担心美国衰落无可避免，担心下一代一定要降低期望。
今日我向你们说，我们面对的挑战千真万确，很严重也很多，不能轻易解决，不能短时间解决，但美国知道：挑战一定会克服。
这一天，我们聚首一堂，是因为我们选择希望，而非恐惧，选择目标一致，而不是冲突和争吵。
这一天，我们来宣布结束埋怨、虚假承诺、指摘和过时的条，它们窒息我们的政治太久了。
我们仍是一个年轻的国家，但正如《圣经》所说，是时候将孩子气放在一旁了。重申我们不灭精神的时候到了，去选取我们历史好的一面，去发扬那珍宝，那一代传一代的高尚理念：上帝承诺人人平等，人人自由，人人值得有机会追求快乐。
当我们再次肯定我国的伟大，我们知道伟大从来不是天生，而是争取得来的。我们的旅程从来没有走快捷方式，从不退而求其次。这不是胆小的人之路，这条路不是给那些喜欢
第五篇：奥巴马2011在马丁·路德金纪念碑落成典礼上的演讲
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.(Applause.)Thank you.(Applause.)Please be seated.An earthquake and a hurricane may have delayed this day, but this is a day that would not be denied.For this day, we celebrate Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.’s return to the National Mall.In this place, he will stand for all time, among monuments to those who fathered this nation and those who defended it;a black preacher with no official rank or title who somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams and our most lasting ideals, a man who stirred our conscience and thereby helped make our union more perfect.And Dr.King would be the first to remind us that this memorial is not for him alone.The movement of which he was a part depended on an entire generation of leaders.Many are here today, and for their service and their sacrifice, we owe them our everlasting gratitude.This is a monument to your collective achievement.(Applause.)
Some giants of the civil rights movement ?-like Rosa Parks and Dorothy Height, Benjamin Hooks, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth ?-they’ve been taken from us these past few years.This monument attests to their strength and their courage, and while we miss them dearly, we know they rest in a better place.And finally, there are the multitudes of men and women whose names never appear in the history books ?-those who marched and those who sang, those who sat in and those who stood firm, those who organized and those who mobilized ?-all those men and women who through countless acts of quiet heroism helped bring about changes few thought were even possible.“By the thousands,” said Dr.King, “faceless, anonymous, relentless young people, black and white„have taken our whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in the formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.” To those men and women, to those foot soldiers for justice, know that this monument is yours, as well.Nearly half a century has passed since that historic March on Washington, a day when thousands upon thousands gathered for jobs and for freedom.That is what our schoolchildren remember best when they think of Dr.King-? his booming voice across this Mall, calling on America to make freedom a reality for all of God’s children, prophesizing of a day when the jangling discord of our nation would be transformed into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.It is right that we honor that march, that we lift up Dr.King’s “I Have a Dream” speech ?-for without that shining moment, without Dr.King’s glorious words, we might not have had the courage to come as far as we have.Because of that hopeful vision, because of Dr.King’s moral imagination, barricades began to fall and bigotry began to fade.New doors of opportunity swung open for an entire generation.Yes, laws changed, but hearts and minds changed, as well.Look at the faces here around you, and you see an America that is more fair and more free and more just than the one Dr.King addressed that day.We are right to savor that slow but certain progress-? progress that’s expressed itself in a million ways, large and small, across this nation every single day, as people of all colors and creeds live together, and work together, and fight alongside one another, and learn together, and build together, and love one another.So it is right for us to celebrate today Dr.King’s dream and his vision of unity.And yet it is also important on this day to remind ourselves that such progress did not come easily;that Dr.King’s faith was hard-won;that it sprung out of a harsh reality and some bitter disappointments.It is right for us to celebrate Dr.King’s marvelous oratory, but it is worth remembering that progress did not come from words alone.Progress was hard.Progress was purchased through enduring the smack of billy clubs and the blast of fire hoses.It was bought with days in jail cells and nights of bomb threats.For every victory during the height of the civil rights movement, there were setbacks and there were defeats.We forget now, but during his life, Dr.King wasn’t always considered a unifying figure.Even after rising to prominence, even after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr.King was vilified by many, denounced as a rabble rouser and an agitator, a communist and a radical.He was even attacked by his own people, by those who felt he was going too fast or those who felt he was going too slow;by those who felt he shouldn’t meddle in issues like the Vietnam War or the rights of union workers.We know from his own testimony the doubts and the pain this caused him, and that the controversy that would swirl around his actions would last until the fateful day he died.I raise all this because nearly 50 years after the March on Washington, our work, Dr.King’s work, is not yet complete.We gather here at a moment of great challenge and great change.In the first decade of this new century, we have been tested by war and by tragedy;by an economic crisis and its aftermath that has left millions out of work, and poverty on the rise, and millions more just struggling to get by.Indeed, even before this crisis struck, we had endured a decade of rising inequality and stagnant wages.In too many troubled neighborhoods across the country, the conditions of our poorest citizens appear little changed from what existed 50 years ago-? neighborhoods with underfunded schools and broken-down slums, inadequate health care, constant violence, neighborhoods in which too many young people grow up with little hope and few prospects for the future.Our work is not done.And so on this day, in which we celebrate a man and a movement that did so much for this country, let us draw strength from those earlier struggles.First and foremost, let us remember that change has never been quick.Change has never been simple, or without controversy.Change depends on persistence.Change requires determination.It took a full decade before the moral guidance of Brown v.Board of Education was translated into the enforcement measures of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, but those 10 long years did not lead Dr.King to give up.He kept on pushing, he kept on speaking, he kept on marching until change finally came.(Applause.)
And then when, even after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act passed, African Americans still found themselves trapped in pockets of poverty across the country, Dr.King didn’t say those laws were a failure;he didn’t say this is too hard;he didn’t say, let’s settle for what we got and go home.Instead he said, let’s take those victories and broaden our mission to achieve not just civil and political equality but also economic justice;let’s fight for a living wage and better schools and jobs for all who are willing to work.In other words, when met with hardship, when confronting disappointment, Dr.King refused to accept what he called the “isness” of today.He kept pushing towards the “oughtness” of tomorrow.And so, as we think about all the work that we must do ?-rebuilding an economy that can compete on a global stage, and fixing our schools so that every child--not just some, but every child--gets a world-class education, and making sure that our health care system is affordable and accessible to all, and that our economic system is one in which everybody gets a fair shake and everybody does their fair share, let us not be trapped by what is.(Applause.)We can’t be discouraged by what is.We’ve got to keep pushing for what ought to be, the America we ought to leave to our children, mindful that the hardships we face are nothing compared to those Dr.King and his fellow marchers faced 50 years ago, and that if we maintain our faith, in ourselves and in the possibilities of this nation, there is no challenge we cannot surmount.And just as we draw strength from Dr.King’s struggles, so must we draw inspiration from his constant insistence on the oneness of man;the belief in his words that “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” It was that insistence, rooted in his Christian faith, that led him to tell a group of angry young protesters, “I love you as I love my own children,” even as one threw a rock that glanced off his neck.It was that insistence, that belief that God resides in each of us, from the high to the low, in the oppressor and the oppressed, that convinced him that people and systems could change.It fortified his belief in non-violence.It permitted him to place his faith in a government that had fallen short of its ideals.It led him to see his charge not only as freeing black America from the shackles of discrimination, but also freeing many Americans from their own prejudices, and freeing Americans of every color from the depredations of poverty.And so at this moment, when our politics appear so sharply polarized, and faith in our institutions so greatly diminished, we need more than ever to take heed of Dr.King’s teachings.He calls on us to stand in the other person’s shoes;to see through their eyes;to understand their pain.He tells us that we have a duty to fight against poverty, even if we are well off;to care about the child in the decrepit school even if our own children are doing fine;to show compassion toward the immigrant family, with the knowledge that most of us are only a few generations removed from similar hardships.(Applause.)To say that we are bound together as one people, and must constantly strive to see ourselves in one another, is not to argue for a false unity that papers over our differences and ratifies an unjust status quo.As was true 50 years ago, as has been true throughout human history, those with power and privilege will often decry any call for change as “divisive.” They’ll say any challenge to the existing arrangements are unwise and destabilizing.Dr.King understood that peace without justice was no peace at all;that aligning our reality with our ideals often requires the speaking of uncomfortable truths and the creative tension of non-violent protest.But he also understood that to bring about true and lasting change, there must be the possibility of reconciliation;that any social movement has to channel this tension through the spirit of love and mutuality.If he were alive today, I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing all who work there;that the businessman can enter tough negotiations with his company’s union without vilifying the right to collectively bargain.He would want us to know we can argue fiercely about the proper size and role of government without questioning each other’s love for this country--(applause)--with the knowledge that in this democracy, government is no distant object but is rather an expression of our common commitments to one another.He would call on us to assume the best in each other rather than the worst, and challenge one another in ways that ultimately heal rather than wound.In the end, that’s what I hope my daughters take away from this monument.I want them to come away from here with a faith in what they can accomplish when they are determined and working for a righteous cause.I want them to come away from here with a faith in other people and a faith in a benevolent God.This sculpture, massive and iconic as it is, will remind them of Dr.King’s strength, but to see him only as larger than life would do a disservice to what he taught us about ourselves.He would want them to know that he had setbacks, because they will have setbacks.He would want them to know that he had doubts, because they will have doubts.He would want them to know that he was flawed, because all of us have flaws.It is precisely because Dr.King was a man of flesh and blood and not a figure of stone that he inspires us so.His life, his story, tells us that change can come if you don’t give up.He would not give up, no matter how long it took, because in the smallest hamlets and the darkest slums, he had witnessed the highest reaches of the human spirit;because in those moments when the struggle seemed most hopeless, he had seen men and women and children conquer their fear;because he had seen hills and mountains made low and rough places made plain, and the crooked places made straight and God make a way out of no way.And that is why we honor this man ?-because he had faith in us.And that is why he belongs on this Mall-? because he saw what we might become.That is why Dr.King was so quintessentially American--because for all the hardships we’ve endured, for all our sometimes tragic history, ours is a story of optimism and achievement and constant striving that is unique upon this Earth.And that is why the rest of the world still looks to us to lead.This is a country where ordinary people find in their hearts the courage to do extraordinary things;the courage to stand up in the face of the fiercest resistance and despair and say this is wrong, and this is right;we will not settle for what the cynics tell us we have to accept and we will reach again and again, no matter the odds, for what we know is possible.That is the conviction we must carry now in our hearts.(Applause.)As tough as times may be, I know we will overcome.I know there are better days ahead.I know this because of the man towering over us.I know this because all he and his generation endured--we are here today in a country that dedicated a monument to that legacy.And so with our eyes on the horizon and our faith squarely placed in one another, let us keep striving;let us keep struggling;let us keep climbing toward that promised land of a nation and a world that is more fair, and more just, and more equal for every single child of God.Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.(Applause.)
点击咨询 