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PUSH FOR EXCELLENCE, INC.
2014 PUSH EXCEL INSPIRATIONAL SPEECH AWARDS
CONTESTANT ENTRY FORM
Deadline: Saturday, November 29, 2014 AT 1:00 PM
Name: _________________________
Level ___________
Address: _________________________________________
City: ____________ State: ______________ Zip: _________
Telephone (____) ____________________
Email_____________________________
DOB____________/_________/______________Age:____
Contestant Agreement
I have studied the rules of the contest, and I will be bound by all of the requirements.
Signature_____________________________________
Date ___/___/___
Parent or Guardian Permission and Release:
I give my permission for my child/ward to participate in this contest. I also consent to my child/ward being
photographed or videotaped, including audio, in connection with his or her participation in this contest. I
also give PUSH Excel and its assigns permission to use, edit and re-use these products for print, internet,
and all other forms of media. I release PUSH Excel, and its assigns, agents and employees from all
claims, demands, and liabilities whatsoever and in connection with, the above.
Signature_______________________________________ Date: _____________
Relationship to Contestant _______________________________
Please forward the Contestant Entry Form by email fax, mail or hand delivery to Push Excel, Inc., c/o of
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Michelle Chambers, Program Coordinator, 930 East 50 Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60615 or fax to (773)
373-4105 or email to mchambers@rainbowpush.org. By Saturday, November 29, 2014 at 1:00 pm. The
oratorical competition will be held at National Rainbow Push Headquarters on Saturday, December 20,
2014 at 1`:00 p.m. The Contestant Entry Form and Release form must be received no later than 1:00
p.m. on November 29, 2014. First, Second, Third Place and Honorable Mention awardees in four grade
levels will be announced and acknowledged on live Internet, television and radio broadcasts.
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October 3, 2014
Dear Friends of PUSH for Excellence:
On December 20, 2014, at 1:00 p.m., PUSH EXCEL, Inc. presents its 2014 Push Excel
Inspirational Speech Awards at Push National Headquarters. Once again the occasion is offered
for students in 1st through 12th grades to discover, remember and compete in a stimulating and
enjoyable rhetorical competition that focuses on the persuasive power of eloquent inspirational
speech. We invite your student(s) to participate in this worthy competition. There is a registration
form at the front of this packet.
We love the art of communication. We love reading and we love speeches. Speeches are
an extremely important part of our lives. In this competition students are asked to deliver
excerpts from inspirational speeches that have the enormous power to inspire us to always make
us try a little harder, risk a little more, and to gain wisdom and power for our life. Each of the
speeches we have selected for inclusion in this contest is educational with messages about
potentially unlimited topics. Therefore, as a prerequisite to your child’s participation in this
contest, parents, guardians and/or teachers are mandated to review and check out the speeches
and provide appropriate guidance and counseling with the child before allowing the child to see
or recite the speech. Certain speeches, in the opinion of some, may not be suitable for particular
children, depending upon their age and maturity. With that cautionary note, we have racked up
twenty one inspirational speeches on our list of speeches approved for this contest:
1. A More Perfect Union (2008) - President Barack Obama Speech
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9100.html
2. Independence Day (1996) - President Whitmore Speech.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/quotes .
3. Network (1976) - Mad as Hell.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechnetwork2.html
4. Rocky (1976) – It Ain’t How Hard You Hit. http://samplage.com/movie-quotes/it-aintabout-how-hard-you-hit
5. Let America Be America Again (1935) - Langston Hughes.
www.poemhunter.com/poem/let-america-be-america-again
6. Democracy (1949) - Langston Hughes. www.poemhunter.com/poem/democracy
7. Hoosiers (1986) - I Don’t Care What the Scoreboard Says.
www.filmsite.org/bestspeeches38.html A,B$CD60&77-$E&6F-&D@4!"#$%&!'%()*&(+,
CDG2-$H,-2$E&(*0'4!-#.-/$*%0$+
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A,B$C&7-((-$N06'374$%'OB4!7+,(%*0!8$,*#+$9!:*%(;,#%
2
8. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - Closing Statement before Death. A closing court message in
defense of colleagues after the speaker has been sentenced to death.
http://www.filmsite.org/bestspeeches2.hmtl
9. Choices (1982) - Nikki Giovanni. www.poemhunter.com/poem/cjpoces-144/
10. The Giving Tree (1964) - Sheldon Allan Silverstein. www.poemhunter.com/poem/thegiving-tree The Great Dictator‘s Speech (1940 )
http://www.charliechaplin.com/en/synopsis/articles/29-The-Great-Dictator-s-Speech
11. Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing (1899) James Weldon Johnson. www.metrolyrics.com/the-blacknational-anthem-lyrics-james-weldon-johnson.html
12. The Girl Who Silenced the United Nations for 5 Minutes (1992) http://100777.com/node/1827 Message that only we can protect the health of our
environment and our very existence.
13. Armageddon – (1998) President’s Speech.
http://disquietreservations.blogspot.com/2012/01/armageddon-presidents-speech.html
14. Friday Night Lights Speech - Perfection Defined (2004) http://nottalotta.com/friday-nightlights-speech-perfection-defined/
15. Cicely Tyson Monologue from Medea’s Family Reunion (2006)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0455612/quotes Message about bringing the family together.
16. Samantha Booke’s Two Speeches in The Great Debaters (2007)
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MoviesSpeeches/moviespeechthegreatdebaterswileyvsok
Message that no child should be denied a quality education.
17. A Thing of Beauty (Endymion) John Keats (1818) www.poemhunter.com/poem/john-keats/
18. The Road Not Taken (1916) Robert Frost. www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-road-not-taken
19. All The World’s A Stage (@1600) William Shakespeare. www.poemhunter.com/poem/all the-world-a-stage/
20. The Way of Love 1 Corinthians 13 (@57AD) Apostle Paul
www.esvbible.org/1+Corinthians+13
This tournament focuses on the message not the messenger. It promotes: (1) strong moral
ideals, (2) excellence in education, and (3) sound communication skills. The process of students
studying, memorizing, and delivering an inspirational speech is a powerful vehicle to synthesize
these tenets to develop students’ leadership abilities. These stimulating speeches illustrate how
others have dealt with life circumstances and their experiences can be practically and positively
applied in our children’s everyday lives. The speeches are extremely moving, uplifting and
motivate us to live life to full potential.
Cook County Judges, Illinois Appellate Court Justices, educators, business persons, fine
arts and entertainment personalities, community and religious leaders have volunteered to
observe and judge the competition. 2014 Push Excel Inspirational Speech Awards presents a
platform for young people to exhibit their skills; to feel like they can conquer the world, that
everything is possible, and that good will win out in the end.
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We will hold contestant practice sessions at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition National
Headquarters, located at 930 East 50th Street, Chicago IL, 60615. The practice sessions will take
place on Saturday, October 11th 18th 25th; November 1th 8th 15th, 22th and December 6th and 13th
from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. We invite you to send your student(s) to attend the Saturday
Morning Forum Broadcast at 9:30 am before practice sessions.
Please review the enclosed selection of speeches, rules, scoring information, and entry
form. The registration deadline is Saturday, November 29th 2014 at 1:00 p.m. Entry forms may
be sent to Ms. Michelle Chambers by mail to 930 East 50th Street, Chicago, IL 60615, by fax to
(773) 373-4105, or scanned and sent via e-mail to mchambers@rainbowpush.org.
We look forward to your student(s) participating and showcasing their phenomenal talent.
Happiness, Dreams and Love Always,
Reverend Dr. Janette C. Wilson, Esq.
PUSH Excel Executive Director
The Honorable Judge Stanley L. Hill
PUSH Excel Inspirational Speech Awards
Chairman
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SECTION I: Selected Speeches
1. “A More Perfect Union” (3/18/08) President Barack Obama Speech
“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men
gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in
democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to
escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a
Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by
this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the
convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least
twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution — a
Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution
that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected
over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide
men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the
United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were
willing to do their part — through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through
a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk — to narrow that gap between the
promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign — to continue the long
march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring
and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history
because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them
together — unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but
we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the
same place, but we all want to move in the same direction — towards a better future for of
children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American
people. But it also comes from my own American story.
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I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the
help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World
War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth
while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the
world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of
slaves and slaveowners — an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have
brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered
across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on
Earth is my story even possible.
It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared
into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts — that out of
many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how
hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my
candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the
whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we
built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the
campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough.” We
saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The
press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of
white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign
has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an
exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to
purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor,
Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not
only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of
our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have
caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an
occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear
him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I
strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely — just as I’m sure many of you
have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
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But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They
weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they
expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country — a view that sees white racism as
endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with
America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of
stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of
radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when
we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of
monumental problems — two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care
crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or
Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be
those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with
Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess
that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an
endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to
the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in
much the same way
But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago
is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our
obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served
his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and
seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community
by doing God’s work here on Earth — by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy,
providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those
suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at
Trinity:
“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the
reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note — hope! — I heard something else;
at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of
ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the
Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories — of survival, and
freedom, and hope — became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the
tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the
story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became
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at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories
and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn’t need to feel shame
about…memories that all people might study and cherish — and with which we could start to
rebuild.”
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the
country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety — the doctor and the welfare
mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s
services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing,
clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains
in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles
and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in
America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may
be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized
my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic
group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy
and respect. He contains within him the contradictions — the good and the bad — of the
community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him
than I can my white grandmother — a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed
again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but
a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on
more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can
assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode
and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a
demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent
statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be
making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America
— to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last
few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through
— a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat
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into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like
health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William
Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need
to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves
that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be
directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal
legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after
Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps
explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.
Legalized discrimination — where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning
property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners
could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or
fire departments — meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to
bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between
black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s
urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from
not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families — a
problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services
in so many urban black neighborhoods — parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat,
regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement — all helped create a cycle of violence,
blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation
grew up. They came of age in the late '50s and early '60s, a time when segregation was still the
law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What’s remarkable is not how
many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the
odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after
them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream,
there were many who didn’t make it — those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or
another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations — those
young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing
in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it,
questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the
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men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and
fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not
get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in
the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin
up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews.
The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s
sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life
occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts
attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our
condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to
bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to
condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding
that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and
middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race.
Their experience is the immigrant experience — as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed
them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times
only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are
anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and
global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams
come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when
they hear that an African-American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a
good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told
that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds
over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite
company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger
over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely
exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative
commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate
discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted
attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze — a corporate culture rife with inside
dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by
lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to
wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist,
10
without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns — this too widens the racial divide
and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to
the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naive as to believe that
we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy —
particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction — a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in
the American people — that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial
wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect
union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past
without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in
every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances — for better
health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans — the
white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the
immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives — by
demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to
them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own
lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can
write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American — and yes, conservative — notion of self-help found
frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed
to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can
change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our
society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this
country — a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest
office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor,
young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know — what we have
seen — is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already
achieved gives us hope — the audacity to hope — for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails
the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the
legacy of discrimination — and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the
past — are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds — by investing in
our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our
11
criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were
unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not
have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of
black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s
great religions demand — that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be
our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common
stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict,
and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle — as we did in the O.J. trial — or in the
wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina, or as fodder for the nightly news. We can
play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now
until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American
people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can
pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we
can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election
regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction.
And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this
time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black
children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American
children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that
those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not
those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st-century economy. Not
this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the emergency room are filled with whites and
blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to
overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and
women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every
religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real
problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the
corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
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This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve
together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about
how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve
been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and
their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for president if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast
majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation
after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself
feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next
generation — the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already
made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that I’d like to leave you with today — a story I told when I had
the great honor of speaking on Dr. King’s birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in
Atlanta.
There is a young, 23-year-old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign
in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American
community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion
where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had
to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and
that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother
that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and
relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the
reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the
country who want and need to help their parents too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that
the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or
Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn’t. She sought out allies in her
fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why
they’re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a
specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly
13
the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue.
He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not
say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am
here because of Ashley.”
“I’m here because of Ashley.” By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young
white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or
jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have
come to realize over the course of the 221 years since a band of patriots signed that document in
Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.
2. Independence Day (1996) President Thomas Whitmore Speech
Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world.
And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind." That
word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty
differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is
the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny,
oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist.
And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday,
but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will
not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate
our Independence Day!
3. "Network" (1976) Howard Beale Speech
I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression.
Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are
going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and
there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs
while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent
crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!
We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house,
and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us
14
alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I
won't say anything. Just leave us alone."
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.
I want you to get mad!
I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your
Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about
the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.
All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.
You've gotta say, "I'm a human being, goddammit! My life has value!"
So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up
right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,
"I'm as mad as hell,
and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"
4. It Ain’t About How Hard You Hit (1979) Rocky Balboa Speech
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a
very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and
keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it
ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how
much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now, if you know
what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the
hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or
anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!
5. Let America be America Again (1935) Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
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Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
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In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home-For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay-Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again-The land that never has been yet-And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
17
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath-America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain-All, all the stretch of these great green states-And make America again!
6. Democracy (1949) Langston Hughes
Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.
I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.
I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I'm dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.
Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.
I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.
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7. Hoosiers (1986) Screenwriter(s): Angelo Pizzo
"We're Gonna Be Winners!"
Coach Norman Dale's (Gene Hackman) stirring motivational speech to the 1952 Hickory High
School Huskers basketball team before their regional Indiana state championship game:
There's a, uhm, tradition in tournament play to not talk about the next step until you've climbed
the one in front of you. I'm sure going to the State finals is beyond your wildest dreams, so let's
just keep it right there. Forget about the crowds, the size of the school, their fancy uniforms, and
remember what got you here. Focus on the fundamentals that we've gone over time and time
again. And most important, don't get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game. If
you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can
be, I don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game. In my book, we're gonna be
winners.
8. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) Closing Court Statement Before Death Speech
Screenwriter(s): Talbot Jennings, Jules Furthman, Carey Wilson
Midshipman/Ensign Roger Byam (Franchot Tone) made a closing court statement to defend his
men, after he had been sentenced to hang:
My lord, much as I desire to live, I'm not afraid to die. Since I first sailed on the Bounty over four
years ago, I've known how men can be made to suffer worse things than death, cruelly, beyond
duty, beyond necessity. Captain Bligh, you've told your story of mutiny on the Bounty, how men
plotted against you, seized your ship, cast you adrift in an open boat, a great venture in science
brought to nothing, two British ships lost. But there's another story, Captain Bligh, of ten
cocoanuts and two cheeses. A story of a man who robbed his seamen, cursed them, flogged
them, not to punish but to break their spirit. A story of greed and tyranny, and of anger against it,
of what it cost.
One man, my lord, would not endure such tyranny. That's why you hounded him. That's why you
hate him, hate his friends. And that's why you're beaten. Fletcher Christian's still free. Christian
lost, too, my lord. God knows he's judged himself more harshly than you could judge him. I say
to his father, 'He was my friend. No finer man ever lived.' I don't try to justify his crime, his
mutiny, but I condemn the tyranny that drove him to it. I don't speak here for myself alone or for
these men you condemn. I speak in their names, in Fletcher Christian's name, for all men at sea.
These men don't ask for comfort. They don't ask for safety. If they could speak to you they'd say,
'Let us choose to do our duty willingly, not the choice of a slave, but the choice of free
Englishmen.' They ask only (for) the freedom that England expects for every man. If one man
among you believe that - one man - he could command the fleets of England. He could sweep the
seas for England. If he called his men to their duty not by flaying their backs, but by lifting their
hearts, their... That's all.
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9. Choices (1982) Nikki Giovanni
If i can't do
what i want to do
then my job is to not
do what i don't want
to do
It's not the same thing
but it's the best i can
do
If i can't have
what i want . . . then
my job is to want
what i've got
and be satisfied
that at least there
is something more to want
Since i can't go
where i need
to go . . . then i must . . . go
where the signs point
through always understanding
parallel movement
isn't lateral
When i can't express
what i really feel
i practice feeling
what i can express
and none of it is equal
I know
but that's why mankind
alone among the animals
learns to cry
10. The Giving Tree (1964) Sheldon Allan Silverstein
Once there was a tree....
and she loved a little boy.
And everyday the boy would come
and he would gather her leaves
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and make them into crowns
and play king of the forest.
He would climb up her trunk
and swing from her branches
and eat apples.
And they would play hide-and-go-seek.
And when he was tired,
he would sleep in her shade.
And the boy loved the tree....
very much.
And the tree was happy.
But time went by.
And the boy grew older.
And the tree was often alone.
Then one day the boy came to the tree
and the tree said, 'Come, Boy, come and
climb up my trunk and swing from my
branches and eat apples and play in my
shade and be happy.'
'I am too big to climb and play' said
the boy.
'I want to buy things and have fun.
I want some money?'
'I'm sorry,' said the tree, 'but I
have no money.
I have only leaves and apples.
Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in
the city. Then you will have money and
you will be happy.'
And so the boy climbed up the
tree and gathered her apples
and carried them away.
And the tree was happy.
But the boy stayed away for a long time....
and the tree was sad.
And then one day the boy came back
and the tree shook with joy
and she said, 'Come, Boy, climb up my trunk
and swing from my branches and be happy.'
'I am too busy to climb trees,' said the boy.
'I want a house to keep me warm,' he said.
'I want a wife and I want children,
21
and so I need a house.
Can you give me a house ?'
' I have no house,' said the tree.
'The forest is my house,
but you may cut off
my branches and build a
house. Then you will be happy.'
And so the boy cut off her branches
and carried them away
to build his house.
And the tree was happy.
But the boy stayed away for a long time.
And when he came back,
the tree was so happy
she could hardly speak.
'Come, Boy,' she whispered,
'come and play.'
'I am too old and sad to play,'
said the boy.
'I want a boat that will
take me far away from here.
Can you give me a boat?'
'Cut down my trunk
and make a boat,' said the tree.
'Then you can sail away...
and be happy.'
And so the boy cut down her trunk
and made a boat and sailed away.
And the tree was happy
... but not really.
And after a long time
the boy came back again.
'I am sorry, Boy,'
said the tree,' but I have nothing
left to give you My apples are gone.'
'My teeth are too weak
for apples,' said the boy.
'My branches are gone,'
said the tree. ' You
22
cannot swing on them - '
'I am too old to swing
on branches,' said the boy.
'My trunk is gone, ' said the tree.
'You cannot climb - '
'I am too tired to climb' said the boy.
'I am sorry,' sighed the tree.
'I wish that I could give you something....
but I have nothing left.
I am just an old stump.
I am sorry....'
'I don't need very much now,' said the boy.
'just a quiet place to sit and rest.
I am very tired.'
'Well,' said the tree, straightening
herself up as much as she could,
'well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting
Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest.'
And the boy did.
And the tree was happy.
11. The Great Dictator's Speech (1940) - Charlie Chaplin
I am sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don't want to rule or
conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white.
We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's
happiness - not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this
world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The
way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into
misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that
gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard
and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity.
More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be
violent and all will be lost....
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions
cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all.
Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men,
women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent
people.
To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the
passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men
23
will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people.
And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. .....
Soldiers! don't give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment
your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat
you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not
cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the
unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: and the Kingdom of God is within man and - not one
man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to
create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this
life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new
world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old
age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do
not fulfil that promise. They never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let
us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate
and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead
to all men's happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
12. Life Ev’ry Voice and Sing. (1899) - James Weldon Johnson
Lift ev'ry voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring.
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise,
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
24
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee,
Shadowed beneath thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
13. The Girl Who Silenced the UN For 5 Minutes (1992) - Severn Suzuki
Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. - The Environmental Children's Organisation.
We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference:
Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to
come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I
have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.
Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to
speak for all generations to come.
I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.
I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere
left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.
I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the
air because I don't know what chemicals are in it.
I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of
cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going extinct every day -- vanishing forever.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of
birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
25
Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?
All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the
solutions. I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realize, neither do
you!
* You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
* You don't know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
* You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
* And you can't bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!
Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organizers, reporters or
politicians - but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles - and all
of you are somebody's child.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million
species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil -- borders and governments will
never change that.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards
one single goal.
In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.
In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet
northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are
afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.
In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter -- we have watches,
bicycles, computers and television sets.
Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children
living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: "I wish I was rich and if I were, I would
give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection."
If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everything still
so greedy?
26
I can't stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where
you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child
starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.
I'm only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and
finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!
At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:
* not to fight with others,
* to work things out,
* to respect others,
* to clean up our mess,
* not to hurt other creatures
* to share - not be greedy.
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?
Do not forget why you're attending these conferences, who you're doing this for -- we are your
own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to
comfort their children by saying "everything’s going to be alright", "we're doing the best we can"
and "it's not the end of the world".
But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My
father always says "You are what you do, not what you say."
Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us. I challenge you,
please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listening.
14. Armageddon - President's Speech (1998) Written by Robert Roy Pool and Johnathan
Hensleigh.
"I address you tonight not as the President of the United States, not as the leader of a country, but
as a citizen of humanity. We are faced with the very gravest of challenges. The Bible calls this
day "Armageddon"-the end of all things. And yet, for the first time in the history of the planet, a
species has the technology to prevent its own extinction. All of you praying with us need to
know that everything that can be done to prevent this disaster is being called into service.
27
The human thirst for excellence, knowledge, every step up the ladder of science, every
adventurous reach into space, all of our combined modern technologies and imaginations, even
the wars that we've fought have provided us the tools to wage this terrible battle. Through all the
chaos that is our history, through all of the wrong and the discord, through all of the pain and
suffering, through all of our times, there is one thing that has nourished our souls, and elevated
our species above its origins, and that is our courage.
The dreams of an entire planet are focused tonight on those fourteen brave souls traveling into
the heavens. And may we all, citizens the world over, see these events through. God speed, and
good luck to you.
"I address you tonight not as the President of the United States, not as the leader of a country, but
as a citizen of humanity. We are faced with the very gravest of challenges. The Bible calls this
day "Armageddon"-the end of all things. And yet, for the first time in the history of the planet, a
species has the technology to prevent its own extinction. All of you praying with us need to
know that everything that can be done to prevent this disaster is being called into service.
The human thirst for excellence, knowledge, every step up the ladder of science, every
adventurous reach into space, all of our combined modern technologies and imaginations, even
the wars that we've fought have provided us the tools to wage this terrible battle. Through all the
chaos that is our history, through all of the wrong and the discord, through all of the pain and
suffering, through all of our times, there is one thing that has nourished our souls, and elevated
our species above its origins, and that is our courage.
The dreams of an entire planet are focused tonight on those fourteen brave souls traveling into
the heavens. And may we all, citizens the world over, see these events through. God speed, and
good luck to you."
15. Friday Night Lights Speech – Perfection Defined (2004) - Coach Gary Gaines
“Well it’s real simple: You got two more quarters and that’s it.
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Now most of you have been playing this game for ten years. And you got two more quarters and
after that most of you will never play this game again as long as you live. Now, you all have
known me for a while, and for a long time now you’ve been hearing me talk about being perfect.
Well I want you to understand something. To me, being perfect is not about that scoreboard out
there. It’s not about winning. It’s about you and your relationship to yourself and your family
and your friends. Being perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that
you didn’t let them down, because you told them the truth. And that truth is that you did
everything that you could. There wasn’t one more thing that you could have done.
Can you live in that moment, as best you can, with clear eyes and love in your heart? With joy in
your heart? If you can do that gentlemen, then you’re perfect.
I want you to take a moment. And I want you to look each other in the eyes. I want you to put
each other in your hearts forever, because forever’s about to happen here in just a few minutes. I
want you to close your eyes, and I want you to think about Boobie Miles, who is your brother.
And he would die to be out there on that field with you tonight. And I want you to put that in
your hearts.
Boys, my heart is full. My heart’s full.”
16. Madea's Family Reunion (2006) - Cicely Tyson
Myrtle: Family reunions are about uniting the family, bringing together the young and old.
Singing and dancing and thanking God, giving him the glory. Thanking him for getting us over.
As we marched up the road this afternoon, what we saw were young men gambling, fighting,
cussing. Women with no clothes on gyrating all over on this land. Do you see this shack. The
man and woman we were born here gave birth to this generation. They were slaves. They worked
this ground, but they bought it from the widow of the slave owner and that's the kind of blood we
have running though our veins. That's the stock we are made of. What happened to us. What
happened to us. Who are you. Do you know who you are. What happened to the pride and the
dignity and the love and respect that we had for one another. Where did it go. And how, How do
we get it back. I'ma tell you. Young Black men, take your place. We need you. Your sons and
daughters need you. Did you understand what I just said. You were sold off and had no choice,
yes but now it's time to stay. Take your place. Now. Starting now. Starting now. Young black
women, you are more than your thighs and your hips. You are beautiful, strong, powerful. I want
more from you. Take your place. I want every single one of you, young man, young woman, turn
to the next person standing alongside of you. Grab them and hug them and tell them that you
love 'em. Tell them, 'If you need anything, come to me.' 'If you need somebody to talk to, come
to me.' 'I'll give you the shoulder, I'll give you the hug. I'll feed you, I'll clothe you if you need it.
That's how you start from this moment. When you leave this reunion today, you take that with
you.
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17. The Great Debaters (2007) Samathan Booke - Henrietta Bell, Member 1930
WileyCollege Debate Team
Negroes should be – should be admitted – Resolved: Negroes should be admitted to state
universities. I will prove that blocking a negro’s admission to a state university is not only
wrong, it is absurd. The negro people are not just a color in the American fabric. They are the
thread that holds it all together. Consider the legal and historical record: May 13th, 1865,
Sergeant Crocker, a negro, is the last soldier to die in the civil war. 1918, the first U.S. soldiers
decorated for bravery in France are negroes Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts. 1920, The
New York Times announces that the “n” in “Negro” would hereafter be capitalized. ….
As long as schools are segregated, negroes will receive an education that is both separate and
unequal. By Oklahoma’s own reckoning, the state is currently spending five times more for the
education of a white child than it is spending to educate a colored child That means better text
books for that [white]child than for that [negro] child. Oh, I say that’s a shame. But my opponent
says today is not the day for whites and coloreds to go to the same college, to share the same
campus, to walk in the same classroom. Well, would you kindly tell me when is that day going to
come? Is it going to come tomorrow? Is it going to come next week? In a hundred years?
Never?! No, the time for justice, the time for freedom, and time for equality, is always – is
always – right now!
18. A Thing Of Beauty (Endymion) (1818) - John Keats
A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkn'd ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
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Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.
19. The Road Not Taken (1916) - Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
20. All the World’s A Stage (@1600)William Shakespeare
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
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Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
21. The Way of Love 1 Corinthians 13 (@57AD) Apostle Paul
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I
have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I
have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist
on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with
the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for
knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect
comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a
mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have
been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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SECTION II:
CONTESTANTS
QUALIFICATIONS
AND
LEVELS
FOR
1. The Contest is open to students 18 years of age or younger. Students must recite an
excerpt from one of the pre-approved selection of speeches.
2. Contestant Levels:
Level 1, Grades 1-3: One-Two Minutes
Contestants will be penalized 1 point deduction for each 15 seconds or portion over or
under allotted limit if their speech is less than 30 seconds or greater than 2 minutes 30
seconds.
Level 2, Grades 4-6: Two-Four Minutes
Contestants will be penalized 1 point deduction for each 15 seconds or portion over or
under the allotted time if their speech is less than 1 minute 30 seconds or greater than 4
minutes 30 seconds.
Level 3, Grades 7-8: Three-Five Minutes
Contestants will be penalized 1 point deduction for each 15 seconds or portion over or
under the allotted time if their speech is less than 2 minutes 30 seconds or greater than 5
minutes 30 seconds.
Level 4, Grades 9-12: Four-Six Minutes
Contestants will be penalized 1 point deduction for each 15 seconds or portion over or
under the allotted time if their speech is less than 3 minutes 30 seconds or greater than 6
minutes 30 seconds.
SECTION III: CONTEST RULES
1. All contestants must memorize and recite from memory an excerpt of any of the attached
speeches.
2. A speech must be delivered in English.
3. All contestants must state their selected speech before beginning their speech in order for
the timekeeper to record the exact time of the speech. A 3-point penalty is automatically
assessed by the timekeeper for failure to identify the selected speech.
4. The use of props, special costumes or clothing, or the use of prompters will not be
permitted. Notes may not be used. The penalty will be disqualification.
5. Contestants going over or under will not be cautioned. This penalty will be determined by
the official timekeeper.
6. Timing will begin immediately after the selected speech is expressed. Any salutation to
the judges, audience, etc. should precede the announcement of the selected speech.
Timing will stop when the contestant finishes.
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7. No reference can be made that identifies the student, parents, school or community. This
will result in a deduction of 5 points.
8. Contestants shall not be identified by name until after the last oration has been presented
and all score sheets are out of the possession of judges.
9. Any protest in the conduct of this contest must be made immediately after the condition
is noted. Protest received after the next contestant has been introduced, or in the case of
the last contestant, after the judges leave to total the score, will not be accepted under any
circumstances.
10. The Contest Chairperson will decide all protests in accordance with the official rules. The
decision of the Contest Chair is final and no higher appeals will be recognized.
11. Contestants must submit the contest entry form to Michelle Chambers on or before
Saturday, November 29, 2014 at 1:00 pm by mail to 930 East 50th Street, Chicago,
IL 60615, by fax: (773) 373-4105 or by email: mchambers@rainbowpush.org.
SECTION IV: SCORING INFORMATION
The contest scoring has been divided into three phases. The general intent of each phase is as
follows:
1. POISE (30 points)
Poise: appearance, attire, personality. Poise the freedom from affectation or
embarrassment; composure. Affectation is a mannerism adopted to impress others. The
speaker’s grooming and attire should be appropriate. The contestant should speak with
enthusiasm and assurance; showing interest in the audience and confidence, permitting
his/her personality to shine.
2. DELIVERY AND PRESENTATION (50 points)
Delivery & Presentation: voice, volume, enunciation/pronunciation, gestures, eye
contact, sincerity and emphasis. Delivery and presentation shall be judged on several
factors. Voice quality should be recognized in tone, pitch and volume. Delivery should be
continuous without hesitation or halting. Enunciation and pronunciation are most
important. Eye contact with the judges is important. Gestures should be appraised for
frequency, nature and effectiveness. Desire to be convincing should be obvious and
emphasis should be well placed and dynamic.
3. OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS (20 points)
In this category the overall impression created by the speaker and the speech should be
rated based on memorization and mastery of the material. In this phase of scoring, the
general overall impression is given actual point values. It is in making this particular
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score that a judge would most closely approach a conclusion that would actually rank the
contestants in his or her own opinion.
PENALTIES
•
•
•
•
Failure to announce the selected speech: 3 points.
Use of props, etc.: disqualification.
Time penalties: 1 point deduction for each 15 seconds or portion over or under official
limits.
Self-Identification: 5 points.
JUDGE’S CODE OF ETHICS
Judges will conscientiously avoid bias of any kind in judging contestants. They will not
consider any contestant’s parent/guardian, school, church, and city or organization
affiliation. Nor will they consider any contestant’s age, sex, race, creed, national origin,
profession or political beliefs. They will demonstrate the utmost objectivity. Judges
cannot be personally associated (teacher, parent, coach, etc.) in any way with a contestant
within a category that they judge. They can judge all other categories. Judges should be
aware that all contestants who exceed the specified time limit shall be subject to an
appropriate discretionary penalty deduction. Judges will support by word and deed the
contest rules and judging standards, refraining from public criticism of the contest and
revealing scores and rankings.
May God continue to bless you as you work on behalf of students, families and our community.
Sincerely,
Reverend Dr. Janette C. Wilson, Esq.
PUSH Excel Executive Director
The Honorable Judge Stanley L. Hill
PUSH Excel Inspirational Speech Awards
Chairman
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