Dick Van Dyke is the latest celebrity to throw his support behind Kamala Harris.
The beloved 98-year-old actor made a rare appearance on social media Monday to endorse Harris in Tuesday’s tight presidential race against Donald Trump.
“Hi! I’m Dick Van Dyke,” the “Marry Poppins” star began the black-and-white video. “You may remember I used to sing and dance and fall down a lot, actually.”
Despite turning 99 in December, Van Dyke was full of energy and enthusiasm as he set the scene for his endorsement.
“50 years ago — May 31st, 1964 — I was on the podium with Dr. Martin Luther King, who was addressing some 60,000 people in the Colosseum in LA and I was there to read a message written by Rod Serling, the guy who wrote ‘Twilight Zone,'” he said.
“I got it out the other day and I think it means as much today — if not more — than it did then, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to read it.”
Van Dyke, who wore a polo shirt and glasses, then read a short section of the original address, which Serling titled at the time, “A Most Non-Political Speech.”
“Hatred is not the norm. Prejudice is not the norm. Suspicion, dislike, jealousy [and] scapegoating…. none of those are the transcendent facets of the human personality,” he recited.
“They are diseases. They are the cancers of the soul. They are the infectious and contagious viruses that have been breeding humanity for years,” he continued.
“And because they have been and because they are, is it necessary that they shall be?” he asked. “I think not.”
As long as there is “one voice left to say ‘welcome’ to a stranger,” “one hand outstretched to say ‘enter and share'” and “one mind remaining to think a thought of warmth and friendship” then there is still hope for humanity, according to Serling and Van Dyke.
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The “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” star believes there is “essential decency,” “basic goodness” and “preeminent dignity” in everyone — even if we don’t always act on it.
“There will be moments of violence and expressions of hatred and an ugly echo of intolerance, but these are the clinging vestiges of a decayed past, not the harbingers of the better, cleaner future,” he recited.
“To those who tell us that the inequality of the human animal is a necessary evil, we must respond by simply saying that first, it is evil but it is not necessary,” he continued. “We prove it, sitting here tonight in 1964. We prove it by reaffirming our faith. We prove it by having faith in our affirmations.”
Van Dyke closed out the speech by reciting a quote from Horace Mann, which read, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. I’d like to paraphrase that tonight. ‘Let us be ashamed to live without that victory.'”
While the actor noted that “a lot has happened” since he first read the passage 50 years ago, much has also remained the same.
“It’s not what Martin Luther King dreamed of but it’s a start,” he concluded. “Thank you and God bless.”
Although Van Dyke did not explicitly mention Harris in his video, he tagged the Vice President and her official campaign page in his caption.
“VOTE!!!” he wrote.
English (US) ·