Oh, look at all of you. Look at all of you. Goodness. Thank
you so much. Thank you so much. Giving all praise and honor to God
for bringing us together here today. Thank you so much. I am -- I
am so grateful to see all of you. You guys are still chilling back
back there? [to audience on left.]
You know, we all made this journey for a reason. It''s humbling
to see a crowd like this, but in my heart I know you didn''t just
come here for me.
[Audience chants " You!"]
You...no, you came here because you believe in what this country
can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the
face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a
politics that shut you out, that''s told you to settle, that''s
divided us for too long, you believe that we can be one people,
reaching out for what''s possible, building that more perfect
union.
That''s the journey we''re on today. But let me tell you how I
came to be here. As most of you know, I''m not a native of this
great state.
[Audience chants " That''s all right."]
I -- I moved to Illinois over two decades ago. I was a young man
then, just a year out of college. I knew no one in Chicago when I
arrived, was without money or family connections. But a group of
churches had offered me a job as a community organizer for the
grand sum[1] of 13,000 dollars a year. And I accepted the job,
sight unseen, motivated then by a single, simple, powerful idea:
that I might play a small part in building a better America.