Yes We Can

February 7th, 2008 by mikekarnj · 1 Comment

yeswecan.jpg

Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas, with the help of his celebrity friends, released a music video last Friday around Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech.  The music video was inspired by the speech Barack Obama made after the New Hampshire primary, but Will.I.Am’s larger explanation is pretty inspiring in and of itself, check it out here.

“The music video includes excerpts from the Obama speech and appearances from a range of celebrities including: Scarlett Johansson, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriquez, Kelly Hu, Adam Rodriquez, Amber Valetta and Nick Cannon.”

This speech may go down in history as one of the most influential speeches in our history– kind of like our version of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech– because while the phrase was originally used by the United Farm Worker’s Union and has been used many times before and will probably be used again, it embodies something larger about us and about now. Yes we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics…they will only grow louder and more dissonant ……….. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea –

Yes. We. Can.

Tags: politics

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 TrUtH // Mar 1, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    I lOvE ThIs SoNg!!~ 0bAmA 08!!!

Leave a Comment

vpn