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Democratic
National Convention
Full text of
San Antonia Mayor Julian Castro’s keynote speech
My fellow Democrats, my fellow Texans, my fellow Americans: I stand
before you tonight as a young American, a proud American, of a
generation born as the Cold War receded, shaped by the tragedy of 9/11,
connected by the digital revolution and determined to re-elect the man
who will make the 21st century another American century—President
Barack Obama.
The unlikely journey that brought me here tonight began many miles from
this podium. My brother Joaquin and I grew up with my mother Rosie and
my grandmother Victoria. My grandmother was an orphan. As a young girl,
she had to leave her home in Mexico and move to San Antonio, where some
relatives had agreed to take her in. She never made it past the fourth
grade. She had to drop out and start working to help her family. My
grandmother spent her whole life working as a maid, a cook and a
babysitter, barely scraping by, but still working hard to give my
mother, her only child, a chance in life, so that my mother could give
my brother and me an even better one.
As my grandmother got older, she begged my mother to give her
grandchildren. She prayed to God for just one grandbaby before she
died. You can imagine her excitement when she found out her prayers
would be answered—twice over. She was so excited that the day before
Joaquin and I were born she entered a menudo cook-off, and she won
$300! That’s how she paid our hospital bill.
By the time my brother and I came along, this incredible woman had
taught herself to read and write in both Spanish and English. I can
still see her in the room that Joaquin and I shared with her, reading
her Agatha Christie novels late into the night. And I can still
remember her, every morning as Joaquin and I walked out the door to
school, making the sign of the cross behind us, saying, “Que dios los
bendiga.” “May God bless you.”
My grandmother didn’t live to see us begin our lives in public service.
But she probably would have thought it extraordinary that just two
generations after she arrived in San Antonio, one grandson would be the
mayor and the other would be on his way—the good people of San Antonio
willing—to the United States Congress—– huge applause 10:11pm
My family’s story isn’t special. What’s special is the America that
makes our story possible. Ours is a nation like no other, a place where
great journeys can be made in a single generation. No matter who you
are or where you come from, the path is always forward.
America didn’t become the land of opportunity by accident. My
grandmother’s generation and generations before always saw beyond the
horizons of their own lives and their own circumstances. They believed
that opportunity created today would lead to prosperity tomorrow.
That’s the country they envisioned, and that’s the country they helped
build. The roads and bridges they built, the schools and universities
they created, the rights they fought for and won—these opened the doors
to a decent job, a secure retirement, the chance for your children to
do better than you did.
And that’s the middle class—the engine of our economic growth. With
hard work, everybody ought to be able to get there. And with hard work,
everybody ought to be able to stay there—and go beyond. The dream of
raising a family in a place where hard work is rewarded is not unique
to Americans. It’s a human dream, one that calls across oceans and
borders. The dream is universal, but America makes it possible. And our
investment in opportunity makes it a reality.— applause (10:13pm)
Now, in Texas, we believe in the rugged individual. Texas may be the
one place where people actually still have bootstraps, and we expect
folks to pull themselves up by them. But we also recognize there are
some things we can’t do alone. We have to come together and invest in
opportunity today for prosperity tomorrow.
And it starts with education. Twenty years ago, Joaquin and I left home
for college and then for law school. In those classrooms, we met some
of the brightest folks in the world. But at the end of our days there,
I couldn’t help but to think back to my classmates at Thomas Jefferson
High School in San Antonio. They had the same talent, the same brains,
the same dreams as the folks we sat with at Stanford and Harvard. I
realized the difference wasn’t one of intelligence or drive. The
difference was opportunity.
In my city of San Antonio, we get that. So we’re working to ensure that
more four-year-olds have access to pre-K. We opened Cafe College, where
students get help with everything from test prep to financial aid
paperwork. We know that you can’t be pro-business unless you’re
pro-education. We know that pre-K and student loans aren’t
charity. They’re a smart investment in a workforce that can fill and
create the jobs of tomorrow. We’re investing in our young minds today
to be competitive in the global economy tomorrow.
And it’s paying off. Last year the Milken Institute ranked San Antonio
as the nation’s top performing local economy. And we’re only getting
started. Opportunity today, prosperity tomorrow.
Now, like many of you, I watched last week’s Republican convention.
They told a few stories of individual success. We all celebrate
individual success. But the question is, how do we multiply that
success? The answer is President Barack Obama.
Mitt Romney, quite simply, doesn’t get it. A few months ago he visited
a university in Ohio and gave the students there a little
entrepreneurial advice. “Start a business,” he said. But how? “Borrow
money if you have to from your parents,” he told them. Gee, why didn’t
I think of that? Some people are lucky enough to borrow money from
their parents, but that shouldn’t determine whether you can pursue your
dreams. I don’t think Governor Romney meant any harm. I think he’s a
good guy. He just has no idea how good he’s had it.
We know that in our free market economy some will prosper more than
others. What we don’t accept is the idea that some folks won’t even get
a chance. And the thing is, Mitt Romney and the Republican Party are
perfectly comfortable with that America. In fact, that’s exactly what
they’re promising us.
The Romney-Ryan budget doesn’t just cut public education, cut Medicare,
cut transportation and cut job training.
It doesn’t just pummel the middle class—it dismantles it. It dismantles
what generations before have built to ensure that everybody can enter
and stay in the middle class. When it comes to getting the middle class
back to work, Mitt Romney says, “No.” When it comes to respecting
women’s rights, Mitt Romney says, “No.” When it comes to letting people
marry whomever they love, Mitt Romney says, “No.” When it comes to
expanding access to good health care, Mitt Romney says, “No.”
Actually, Mitt Romney said, “Yes,” and now he says, “No.” Governor
Romney has undergone an extreme makeover, and it ain’t pretty. So
here’s what we’re going to say to Mitt Romney. We’re going to say, “No.”
Of all the fictions we heard last week in Tampa, the one I find most
troubling is this: If we all just go our own way, our nation will be
stronger for it. Because if we sever the threads that connect us, the
only people who will go far are those who are already ahead. We all
understand that freedom isn’t free. What Romney and Ryan don’t
understand is that neither is opportunity. We have to invest in it.
Republicans tell us that if the most prosperous among us do even
better, that somehow the rest of us will too. Folks, we’ve heard that
before. First they called it “trickle-down.” Then “supply-side.” Now
it’s “Romney-Ryan.” Or is it “Ryan-Romney”? Either way, their theory
has been tested. It failed. Our economy failed. The middle class paid
the price. Your family paid the price.
Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it. But Barack Obama gets it. He
understands that when we invest in people we’re investing in our shared
prosperity. And when we neglect that responsibility, we risk our
promise as a nation. Just a few years ago, families that had never
asked for anything found themselves at risk of losing everything. And
the dream my grandmother held, that work would be rewarded, that the
middle class would be there, if not for her, then for her children—that
dream was being crushed.
But then President Obama took office—and he took action. When Detroit
was in trouble, President Obama saved the auto industry and saved a
million jobs. Seven presidents before him—Democrats and
Republicans—tried to expand health care to all Americans. President
Obama got it done. He made a historic investment to lift our nation’s
public schools and expanded Pell grants so that more young people can
afford college. And because he knows that we don’t have an ounce of
talent to waste, the president took action to lift the shadow of
deportation from a generation of young, law-abiding immigrants called
dreamers.
I believe in you. Barack Obama believes in you. Now it’s time for
Congress to enshrine in law their right to pursue their dreams in the
only place they’ve ever called home: America.
Four years ago, America stood on the brink of a depression. Despite
incredible odds and united Republican opposition, our president took
action, and now we’ve seen 4.5 million new jobs. He knows better than
anyone that there’s more hard work to do, but we’re making progress.
And now we need to make a choice.
It’s a choice between a country where the middle class pays more so
that millionaires can pay less—or a country where everybody pays their
fair share, so we can reduce the deficit and create the jobs of the
future. It’s a choice between a nation that slashes funding for our
schools and guts Pell grants—or a nation that invests more in
education. It’s a choice between a politician who rewards companies
that ship American jobs overseas—or a leader who brings jobs back home.
This is the choice before us. And to me, to my generation and for all
the generations to come, our choice is clear. Our choice is a man who’s
always chosen us. A man who already is our president: Barack Obama.
In the end, the American dream is not a sprint, or even a marathon, but
a relay. Our families don’t always cross the finish line in the span of
one generation. But each generation passes on to the next the fruits of
their labor. My grandmother never owned a house. She cleaned other
people’s houses so she could afford to rent her own. But she saw her
daughter become the first in her family to graduate from college. And
my mother fought hard for civil rights so that instead of a mop, I
could hold this microphone.
And while she may be proud of me tonight, I’ve got to tell you, Mom,
I’m even more proud of you. Thank you, Mom. Today, my beautiful wife
Erica and I are the proud parents of a three-year-old little girl,
Carina Victoria, named after my grandmother.
A couple of Mondays ago was her first day of pre-K. As we dropped her
off, we walked out of the classroom, and I found myself whispering to
her, as was once whispered to me, “Que dios te bendiga.” “May God bless
you.” She’s still young, and her dreams are far off yet, but I hope
she’ll reach them. As a dad, I’m going to do my part, and I know she’ll
do hers. But our responsibility as a nation is to come together and do
our part, as one community, one United States of America, to ensure
opportunity for all of our children.
The days we live in are not easy ones, but we have seen days like this
before, and America prevailed. With the wisdom of our founders and the
values of our families, America prevailed. With each generation going
further than the last, America prevailed. And with the opportunity we
build today for a shared prosperity tomorrow, America will prevail.
It begins with re-electing Barack Obama. It begins with you. It begins
now. Que dios los bendiga. May God bless you, and may God bless the
United States of America.
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