THIS LAND IS OUR LAND
A Speech for Hope, Equality, and Opportunity
Before I begin, I would like to make a promise.
Folks, today you will hear lofty promises to cut taxes, invest in private education, and escalate foreign conflicts. But here’s what I promise to you: when we elevate the island that is Washington, we only become more distant from those who are drowning just beyond its shores. Today, it’s time we turn this chain of rocky islands into a level landmass, turn deep rifts into even ground, and once and for all, turn obstacles into opportunities.
Now, as I criss-cross the nation on my campaign trail, visiting these often forgotten islands populated by the left-behind, the over-worked, and the most-deserving, I’m reminded of my childhood. You see, on our Ohio farm, we didn’t have much. But we did have books: captivating novels, poetry volumes, classic songs. As my mother said, I was a real Einstein. Most of all, I’m reminded of a song sang by a man from Oklahoma–a man who, like me, criss-crossed the nation with his voice, turned his obstacles to opportunities, and promised America that “This land was made for you and me.”
So today, allow me to share some insights I’ve learned from the campaign trail, and from the stories and songs of my childhood. I’m confident they will fall on receptive ears.
To start, from California, where a housing crisis that plagues low-income residents means that, according to the state realtors association, 75 percent of Southern Californians can't afford to buy a home.
To the New York Islands, where the Atlantic reports that an unfair bail system means four out of five people jailed at Rikers Island are innocent and awaiting a trial, backlogged in a court system that sometimes takes years to adjudicate cases. Only a few feet from the walled cell block lies the Statue of Liberty, casting its light on those lost in this pitch-black system.
From the Redwood Forest, where global warming, fire, and land conversion threaten to destroy this treasured landscape.
To the Gulf Stream Waters, where some immigrants gamble their lives in a dangerous effort to reach America by sea and reunite with their families–only to be stopped, detained, deported.
In 1944, Woody Guthrie wrote in This Land is Your Land, “By the relief office I seen my people; As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking, Is this land made for you and me?” And when three quarters of a century later almost nothing has changed, to Katherine, Azraf, and Max, I ask the same question: is your America–an America that perpetuates classism, promotes profit at the expense of environmental degradation, and benefits the rich over the poor–truly a land for you and me? And to Jeremy and Shehrez: will your half-hearted rhetoric truly live up to the progressive policies you attempt to promote?
Only time will tell. The problem? We lack time. Because America, the future is now.
Now, I have one final story to tell. As I criss-crossed the nation on my campaign trail, I listened. From California to the New York Islands, to the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters, I listened to the first-generation Americans, and promised to dismantle inhumane deportation programs and private detention centers. I listened to the working class, and promised to strengthen the role of unions and raise the minimum wage. I listened to those unfairly incarcerated, and promised to reform a failing criminal justice system that disproportionately imprisons African-American and Latino Americans. I listened to the Veterans, and promised to deescalate unwinnable wars and expand the VA. And to the voters: I listened to you. Because if there’s one thing I hope you remember from this speech, this campaign, this movement: it’s that I listen. Because in a political climate where snap decisions reign supreme, and decisiveness often becomes divisiveness, I’m confident that I am the candidate who–with an open-ear and open-mind–will turn obstacles into opportunities. Opportunity not in the sense of equality of opportunity, where some Americans are predisposed to success, but opportunity where all Americans–regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation–are provided with adequate resources that allow them to succeed.
And finally, to Mr. Guthrie: I’d like to make just one correction to the song. This Land is Your Land? This Land is My Land? No, This Land is Our Land. Thank you.