Hakeem Jefferies Speech
In contrast to the sh*&$ show the Republicans just put on, the Jefferies speech, for me at least, is a breath of fresh air.
"“As Democrats,” he said, “we do believe in a country for everyone…. We believe in a country with liberty and justice for all, equal protection under the law, free and fair elections, and yes, we believe in a country with the peaceful transfer of power.
“We believe that in America our diversity is a strength—it is not a weakness—an economic strength, a competitive strength, a cultural strength…. We are a gorgeous mosaic of people from throughout the world. As John Lewis would sometimes remind us on this floor, we may have come over on different ships but we’re all in the same boat now. We are white. We are Black. We are Latino. We are Asian. We are Native American.
“We are Christian. We are Jewish. We are Muslim. We are Hindu. We are religious. We are secular. We are gay. We are straight. We are young. We are older. We are women. We are men. We are citizens. We are dreamers.
“Out of many, we are one. That’s what makes America a great country, and no matter what kind of haters are trying to divide us, we’re not going to let anyone take that away from us, not now, not ever. This is the United States of America….
“So on this first day, let us commit to the American dream, a dream that promises that if you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to provide a comfortable living for yourself and for your family, educate your children, purchase a home, and one day retire with grace and dignity.”
In this moment of transition, he said, the American people want to know what direction the Congress will choose. The Democrats offer their hand to Republicans to find common ground, Jeffries said, but “we will never compromise our principles. House Democrats will always put American values over autocracy…
“benevolence over bigotry, the Constitution over the cult, democracy over demagogues, economic opportunity over extremism, freedom over fascism, governing over gaslighting, hopefulness over hatred, inclusion over isolation, justice over judicial overreach, knowledge over kangaroo courts, liberty over limitation, maturity over Mar-a-Lago, normalcy over negativity, opportunity over obstruction, people over politics, quality of life issues over QAnon, reason over racism, substance over slander, triumph over tyranny, understanding over ugliness, voting rights over voter suppression, working families over the well-connected, xenial over xenophobia, ‘yes, we can’ over ‘you can’t do it,’ and zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation. We will always do the right thing by the American people.”
From: https://heathercoxrichardson.substac...m_medium=email
Some have been critical, mostly fox news. Is there anything in this that you find offensive? Is there something wrong with diversity? Does this sound "woke"? If so, why?
I play Wordle every day. Yesterday two fellow players chose the same opening yesterday. One got a two and the other a six. They only thing different is one was lucky and the wasn't. That's life, some have an advantage due to nothing more than luck or chance whereas others are less lucky. If luck, skin color, birth location, family wealth, etc. is something you had no control over, why would someone with an advantage aka luck not look upon another with no luck and not want them to get a leg up.
As John Lewis said, we all came here on different ships, but now we are in the same boat. Or as Dr. King said, "you don't tell a bootless man to pull himself up by his bootstraps".
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