Dick Van Dyke supports Kamala Harris for US President

Kathleen William November 5, 2024

Dick Van Dyke endorsed Kamala Harris for President of the United States by reading a speech he gave with Martin Luther King Jr. at a civil rights rally in 1964.

The Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star read the message, which talked about how “hate is not the norm” – which he said “means just as much, if not more, today than it did back then.”

The US actor noted that “a lot has happened” since he first read the passage 50 years ago, “not as much as Martin Luther dreamed, but it's a start,” he said.

Although Van Dyke did not mention Ms. Harris in the video posted to social media, the 98-year-old tagged the vice president in his caption, saying, “VOTE!! @kamalaharris.”

“Fifty years ago – on May 31, 1964 – I stood with Dr. Martin Luther King on the podium speaking to some of the 60,000 people at the Coliseum in LA,” he said.

“I was there to read a message from Rod Serling, the author of The Twilight Zone.

“I put it out the other day and I think it means just as much, if not more, today than it did back then. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to read it.”

Van Dyke, wearing a polo shirt and Ralph Lauren glasses, read a short section of the original address entitled “A Most Non-Political Speech.”

“Hate is not the norm. Prejudice is not the norm. Distrust, resentment, jealousy, scapegoating – none of these are transcendent aspects of human personality,” the actor read.

“They are diseases. They are the cancer of the soul. They are the infectious and contagious viruses that humanity has been producing for years.

“And because they were and because they are, is it necessary that they shall be? I don't believe.”

Van Dyke said that as long as there is “a voice left to welcome a stranger,” “an outstretched hand to say 'enter and share,'” and “a mind left to think a thought of warmth and friendship.” , there is still hope for humanity.

The actor also said that there is “essential decency”, “fundamental goodness” and “outstanding dignity” in every human being.

“There will be moments of violence and expressions of hate and ugly echoes of intolerance, but these are the clinging remnants of a decayed past rather than the harbingers of a better, cleaner future,” he continued.

“To those who tell us that the inequality of the human animal is a necessary evil, we must respond by simply saying: First, it is evil but not necessary.

“We prove it by affirming our faith. We prove it by believing what we say.”

Van Dyke concluded the speech by paraphrasing a quote from Horace Mann, saying, “Let us be ashamed to live without this victory.”