Oprah Winfrey entered the DNC stage to resounding cheers Wednesday night and delivered a speech that celebrated the path that began with the New Orleans Four, Gail Etienne, Tessie Prevost, and Leona Tate, who were in first grade when they were tasked with desegregating McDonogh 19 Elementary School, and Ruby Bridges, a student at William Frantz Elementary School.
“Who says you can’t go home again?” she asked the crowd. “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!”
Winfrey said that she was added to speak on the night’s theme, 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,” she said. “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,” she said.
Winfrey also called to mind the late Congressman John Lewis, who “was one of the brilliant Americans who helped to get us to where we are.”
Lewis also knew that America still needed work. “America is an ongoing project. It requires commitment it requires being open, it requires being open to the hard work, the heart work, of democracy,” she added. “And every now and then, it requires to standing up to life’s bullies.”
Winfrey has experience racism and sexism across the United States she said, but she’s also experienced conservatives and liberals who “will still help you in a heartbeat if you’re in trouble.”
“They are the best of America,” she said.
Winfrey also insisted that debate is an essential component of living in a democracy. “We know all the old tricks and tropes that are designed to distract us from what actually matters,” Winfrey said. “These are complicated times and they require adult conversation. And I welcome that conversation, because civil debate is vital to democracy, and it is the best of America.”
The former talk show host and author also spoke about reproductive health rights in the US. “The women and men who are battling to keeps us from going back in time to a time of desperation and shame … they are the new freedom fighters. And make no mistake, they are the best of America.”
Winfrey has been open about the fact that she was molested by relatives as a child and was impregnated by her uncle at the age of 14. She ultimately had a miscarriage, something that ended up changing her life.
Winfrey called to mind the New Orleans Four, Gail Etienne, Tessie Prevost, and Leona Tate and Ruby Bridges. Prevost, she said, died six weeks ago. “She, like Ruby Bridges and her friends, Leona and Gail, the New Orleans Four 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 the 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. They showed her how to look at the world and see not just what is, but what can be. They instilled in her a passion for justice and freedom and the glorious fighting spirit necessary to pursue that passion. And soon, very soon, we’re going to be teaching our daughters and sons about how this child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father two idealistic, energetic immigrants how this child grew up to become the 47th President of the United States.”
“That is the best of America,” Winfrey said.
She also declared herself a “registered Independent” who is proud to vote “again, and again, and again because that’s what Americans do.” Since she was able to, Winfrey continued, she’s always “voted with my values.” Winfrey specifically called on “all you Independents, and all you undecideds.”
“You know this is true. You know what I’m telling you is true. Values and character matter most of all, in leadership, and in life. And more than anything, you know this is true, that decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024,” she said. “And just plain common sense. Common sense tells you that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can give us decency and respect.”
“We are Americans,” she continued. “Let us choose loyalty to the Constitution over any individual, because that’s the best of America. And let us choose optimism over cynicism, because that is the best of America … let us choose common sense over nonsense, because that is the best of America. And let us choose the sweet promise of tomorrow over the bitter return to yesterday.”
“We’re not going back,” Winfrey said.
“So, let us choose truth, let us choose honor, and let us choose joy,” she sang out. “Because that’s the best of America. But more than anything else, let us choose freedom. Why? Because that’s the best of America. And more than anything, let us all choose Kamala Harris!”
