Harvey Milk on “Hope”

I found this quite by accident. Lucky day, I guess . . .

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This is known as “The Hope Speech,” but I understand Milk gave many variations of this speech for years. I believe this version comes from a speech he gave soon after his 1977 election to a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay elected official in the United States.

When he was walking among us, and I was in high school, I failed to fully realize that he was a true American hero. Is he in the school textbooks today? When we talk about great civil rights leaders, surely there’s room for Harvey Milk. I can’t imagine learning about American history without hearing his voice. Just listen to those words . . .

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