AP Success - AP English Language: Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation

While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to

know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired

me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the

great American story when you used your power to make a

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difference in our society. Millions of people motivated

simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of

division. Around the country and the world you set aside

race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect

for human dignity.  That is why I had to visit Black Lives

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Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the

hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it

for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the

truth is still marching on.  Emmett Till was my George

Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna

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Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15

years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment

when it became so clear that he could easily have been me.

In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison,

and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for

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no understandable reason were the bars. Though I was

surrounded by two loving parents, plenty of brothers,

sisters and cousins, their love could not protect me from

the unholy oppression waiting just outside that family

circle. Unchecked, unrestrained violence and government-

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sanctioned terror had the power to turn a simple stroll to

the store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jog down

a lonesome country road into a nightmare. If we are to

survive as one unified nation, we must discover what so

readily takes root in our hearts that could rob Mother

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Emanuel Church in South Carolina of her brightest and best,

shoot unwitting concertgoers in Las Vegas and choke to death

the hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijah

McClain. Like so many young people today, I was searching

for a way out, or some might say a way in, and then I heard

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the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He

was talking about the philosophy and discipline of

nonviolence. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate

injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get

better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation

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to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something

that is not right, you must say something. You must do

something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each

generation must do its part to help build what we called the

Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with

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itself.  Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can

redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good

trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the

democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful

nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society.

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You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose

it.  You must also study and learn the lessons of history

because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching,

existential struggle for a very long time. People on every

continent have stood in your shoes, through decades and

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centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is

why the answers worked out long ago can help you find

solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build

union between movements stretching across the globe because

we must put away our willingness to profit from the

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exploitation of others.  Though I may not be here with you,

I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and

stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done

all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of

love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is

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your turn to let freedom ring. When historians pick up their

pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say

that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens

of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over

violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the

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wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and

the power of everlasting love be your guide.