Marianne Williamson's Endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders for President - Feb. 23, 2020

Thank you. Thank you, I love you too… thank you. Thank you.

I was born and raised in the great state of Texas. As was my mother, and I am someone — there are millions of us — who have always looked to Jim Hightower as a model for how to do it right.

When I was a little girl growing up in Houston, I used to put my hand in front of my heart — like millions of others — and I took a pledge, a pledge of allegiance. It was to a flag and for the principles on which it stands, liberty and justice for all. Now some people don’t really understand the point of saying something like the Pledge of Allegiance anymore but I know there was a point for me. The fact that when I was a little girl, all those years at Mark Twain Elementary School, the fact that as a little girl I put my hand in front of my heart and I pledged allegiance to liberty and justice for all, turned me into a woman who gets really pissed when I see it not happening. And I’ll tell you what else I learned in those public schools in Houston, Texas, I learned my history. I learned that there were other generations just like this one, for whom it was time to take a stand. The abolitionists saw liberty and justice not happening and they stood. And the women suffragettes saw liberty and justice not happening and they stood. And the civil rights workers saw liberty and justice not happening and it was the people in those cases, not the governments, not the elites, not the status quo. It was the people who rose up and the people who woke up and the people who stepped in and now it is our turn. And of course we are being told, “Oh it can’t happen, he can’t beat trump… Bernie can’t beat trump… it can’t happen.” Well what do you think they told the abolitionists? They said to the abolitionists, “Abolishing slavery is impossible, it can’t happen.” And they said to the women’s suffragettes, “Oh it’s not possible, it can’t happen.” And they said to the civil rights workers, “It’s not possible, it can’t happen.” Look at all the forces arrayed behind slavery, behind the suppression of women, behind institutionalized white supremacy and segregation. And did the abolitionists and the women’s suffragettes and the civil rights workers say “Oh, okay”? Hell no! I’ll tell you what they said, “It’s possible, it can happen because we’re going to make it happen.”

I’ll tell you what’s already happened. To those who say it cannot happen, you just tell them this: it already happened, he won Iowa — it already happened, he won New Hampshire — it already happened, he won Nevada. And by doing all those things, Bernie Sanders has taken a stand. And Bernie Sanders has been taking a stand for a very long time. He has been consistent, he has been convicted, he has been committed and now it’s time. I’m here and you’re here because it’s time for us to take a stand with Bernie. It’s our turn now, just as it was the abolitionists’ turn and just as it was the suffragettes’ turn, just as it was the civil rights workers’ turn, just it is the turn of those who stand at Standing Rock, just it is the turn of all of those who are standing today. Today we’re not saying to forces of slavery, we’re not saying to forces of suppression of women, we’re not saying to forces of segregation, but we are saying to the forces — whatever those corporate aristocratic forces are — that would mitigate against liberty and justice for all. Whether it is the prison-industrial complex, whether it is the military-industrial complex, whether it is the pharmaceutical and whether it is the campaign media-industrial complex.

We are here. And we are infused with the same spirit that infused our ancestors. And we’re here to stand up in honor of our ancestors and in deep devotion to generations who will come after us. We now look back at the abolitionists, we look back at the civil rights workers and we look back at the abolitionists and we go, “Wow they did it. They had the fierceness, they had the grit, they had the courage, they had the grace. They stood up for what America can be.” And let one day generations look back at us and let us know that we did what those before us have done and we said in our time to the forces who would say it can’t be done. This liberty and justice stuff it’s a dream, it’s just something you talk about, but when it gets in the way of the financial interests of a few you can’t have that. And we have been trained in America over the last few decades to expect too little, to say pretty please about things that should be the right of every American. Today we’re tired of saying pretty please. We’re gonna stand up, we’re gonna show up because we woke up and we’re gonna say it with grace — we’re gonna say it with style — we’re gonna say to all those who say liberty and justice cannot be done: “Sure hell can be, ‘cuz we’re here and we’re with Bernie.”

Thank you very, very much. God bless you.

Williamson, M.D. [Marianne 2020]. (2020, February 23). Marianne Williamson's Endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders for President [https://youtu.be/Cs6CUhXSJDI]. Retrieved on Mar. 2, 2020 from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXAMXGAP0YnBxtc8brSSbjg.