Read here the full transcript of Oprah Winfrey’s speech at Democratic National Convention 2024 in Chicago on August 21, 2024.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
The Power of Unity and Freedom
Who says you can’t go home again? After watching the Obamas last night, that was some epic fire, wasn’t it? Some epic fire. We’re now so fired up, we can’t wait to leave here and do something.
And what we’re going to do is elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States. I am so honored to have been asked to speak on tonight’s theme about what matters most to me, to you, and all of us Americans: freedom. There are people who want you to see our country as a nation of us against them. People who want to scare you, who want to rule you.
People who’d have you believe that books are dangerous and assault rifles are safe. That there’s a right way to worship and a wrong way to love. People who seek first to divide and then to conquer. But here’s the thing: when we stand together, it is impossible to conquer us.
The Legacy of John Lewis
In the words of an extraordinary American, the late Congressman John Lewis, he said, “No matter what ship our ancestors arrived on, we are all in the same boat now.” Congressman Lewis knew very well how far this country has come because he was one of the brilliant Americans who helped to get us where we are. But he also knew that the work is not done, the work will never be done because freedom isn’t free. America is an ongoing project; it requires commitment, it requires being open to the hard work of democracy.
And every now and then, it requires standing up to life’s bullies. I know this. I’ve lived in Mississippi, in Tennessee, in Wisconsin, Maryland, Indiana, Florida, Hawaii, Colorado, California, and sweet home Chicago, Illinois. I have actually traveled this country from the redwood forests (love those redwoods) to the Gulf Stream waters. I’ve seen racism and sexism and income inequality and division.
The True Spirit of America
I’ve not only seen it, at times I’ve been on the receiving end of it. But more often than not, what I’ve witnessed and experienced are human beings, both conservative and liberal, who may not agree with each other, but who’d still help you in a heartbeat if you were in trouble. These are the people who make me proud to say that I am an American. They are the best of America.
And despite what some would have you think, we are not so different from our neighbors. When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the homeowner’s race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is or how they voted. No, we just try to do the best we can to save them.
And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady? Well, we try to get that cat out, too. Because we are a country of people who work hard for the money. We wish our brothers and sisters well when we pray for peace. We know all the old tricks and tropes that are designed to distract us from what actually matters.
Addressing Complex Issues
But we are beyond ridiculous tweets and lies and foolery. These are complicated times, people, and they require adult conversation. And I welcome those conversations, because civilized debate is vital to democracy, and it is the best of America.
Now, over the last couple of nights, we have all seen brave people walk onto this stage and share their most private pain. Amanda and Josh, Caitlin, Hadley, they told us their stories of rape and incest and near-death experiences from having the state deny them the abortion that their doctor explained was medically necessary. And they told us these things for one reason, and that is to keep what happened to them from happening to anybody else.
If you do not have autonomy over this, over this, if you cannot control when and how you choose to bring your children into this world and how they are raised and supported, there is no American dream. The women and men who are battling to keep us from going back to a time of desperation and shame and stone-cold fear, they are the new freedom fighters, and make no mistake, they are the best of America.
Honoring Tessie Prevost Williams
I want to talk now about somebody who is not with us tonight. Tessie Prevost Williams was born in New Orleans not long after the Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. That was in 1954, the same year I was born. But I did not have to head to first grade at the all-white Madonna 19 school with a U.S. marshal by my side like Tessie did. And when I got to school, the building wasn’t empty like it was for Tessie.
You see, rather than allowing Madonna to be integrated, parents pulled their kids out of the school, leaving only Tessie and two other little black girls, Gail Etienne and Leona Tate, to sit in a classroom with the windows papered over to block snipers from attacking their six-year-old bodies. Tessie passed away six weeks ago, and I tell this story to honor her tonight, because she, like Ruby Bridges and her friends, Leona and Gail, the New Orleans Four, as they were called, they broke barriers, and they paid dearly for it.
But it was the grace and guts and courage of women like Tessie Prevost Williams that paved the way for another young girl who nine years later became part of a second class to integrate the public schools in Berkeley, California. And it seems to me that at school and at home, somebody did a beautiful job of showing this young girl how to challenge the people at the top and empower the people at the bottom.