Maya Angelou Reminds Us to Rise
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Maya Angelou mentioned the need to continue the campaign for human rights in her speech Wednesday night at the University of Southern California.
“You’re going to hear people say, ‘Oh, look at that person, I’m afraid of him… I don’t want to be around him… he’s Spanish, or he has an accent, or he’s gay.’” she said. “We need to be the ones with the courage to stand up and say, ‘I beg your pardon’.”
Equality, she has mentioned in earlier speeches, has come a long way since the days of slavery and disenfranchisement because of those individuals willing to stand up against the norms of society.
With this, Angelou implies that the fight for human rights is not over, and that there still is a lot to more done. Angelou stressed tonight that those with the urge to fight cannot think they are too insignificant to make a difference.
“Rise up, you are among the colors in the rainbow,” she said.
She also reminded the audience that while it is important to remember ones roots, it is also crucial to remember that we are all united for the simple reason that we are all human.
“I am a human being. Nothing human can be alien to me,” she quotes Publius Terentius “Terence” Afer, a playwright of the Roman Republic who was of north African descent.
Americans of every identity are lucky to have a figure like Maya Angelou, to remind us of the need to continue to fight for human rights. Read I Rise for further inspiration.
Reach Michelle Baron here.
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