Here are some of the most memorable speeches from 2021 ...
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00:00Today, we are able to breathe again.
00:02There is no planet block.
00:04No person should have to go into debt, crushing debt, in order to get an education.
00:16I could do nothing but watch, especially in that courtroom, over and over and over again,
00:22as my brother was murdered.
00:25I'm going to put up a fight every day, because I'm not just fighting for George anymore,
00:31I'm fighting for everybody around this world.
00:35I get calls, I get DMs, people from Brazil, from Ghana, from Germany, everybody, London,
00:43Italy, they're all saying the same thing.
00:46We won't be able to breathe until you're able to breathe.
00:51Today, we are able to breathe again, because justice for George means freedom for all.
01:01There is no planet B.
01:02There is no planet blah.
01:04Blah, blah, blah.
01:05Blah, blah, blah.
01:06This is not about some expensive, politically correct, green act of bunny hugging, or blah,
01:12blah, blah.
01:13Build back better.
01:14Blah, blah, blah.
01:15Green economy.
01:17Blah, blah, blah.
01:19This is all we hear from our so-called leaders.
01:23Words, words that sound great, but so far, has led to no action.
01:33Our hopes and dreams drown in their empty words and promises.
01:38Of course, we need constructive dialogue, but they've now had 30 years of blah, blah,
01:43blah, and where has that led us?
01:45I hope that you can feel how gut-wrenching that is.
01:49I hope you can feel how dehumanizing it is to have the autonomy over your own body taken
01:56away from you.
01:57Recently, the heartbeat bill was passed in Texas.
02:00Starting in September, there will be a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy,
02:06regardless of whether the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.
02:11Six weeks.
02:13That's all women get.
02:14And so before they realize, most of them don't realize that they're pregnant by six
02:18weeks.
02:19I have dreams and hopes and ambitions.
02:22Every girl graduating today does.
02:25And we have spent our entire lives working towards our future.
02:30And without our input and without our consent, our control over that future has been stripped
02:36away from us.
02:38I am terrified that if my contraceptives fail,
02:42I am terrified that if I am raped, then my hopes and aspirations and dreams and efforts
02:49for my future will no longer matter.
02:52I'm going to show you what patriotism, the questions about patriotism looks like.
02:57Here is my proof.
03:00I went to U.S. Army to serve 20 years active duty, 24-7.
03:06I have put up with a lot of shit in silence.
03:10Excuse me, the language.
03:14Too afraid to speak out.
03:17Fearing more abuse and discrimination.
03:20I'm not ashamed to walk around anymore.
03:23Before I felt inhibited, people looked at me strange.
03:31And they questioned me, my loyalty to this country.
03:35I don't look American enough.
03:38Now, last I read the U.S. Constitution, we the people, we are all the same.
03:43We are equal.
03:45You care about life?
03:48Then get these dangerous military-style weapons off the streets, out of our schools.
03:55I understand that my Republican colleagues have very strong views on issues related to abortion.
04:04But I listened to my Republican colleagues come down here one after another today and
04:10talk about the sanctity of life.
04:14At the very moment that moms and dads in Michigan were being told that their kids weren't coming
04:18home because they were shot at school due to a country that has accepted gun violence
04:22due to Republicans' fealty to the gun lobby.
04:25So please, I beg my colleagues, if you're going to come down here and talk about the
04:29sanctity of life, explain to the American people why the gun lobby matters more than
04:37the safety of our children who are walking into school every day, fearing for their life.
04:45It makes me sad that some politicians use trans kids like me to get votes from people
04:50who hate me just because I exist.
04:53I've been having to explain myself since I was three or four years old.
04:59Texas legislators have been attacking me since pre-K.
05:03I am in fourth grade now.
05:06When it comes to bills that target trans youth, I immediately feel angry.
05:11It's been very scary and overwhelming.
05:15Please, just listen to me, hear me.
05:18Try to educate yourselves.
05:20Try to understand everybody.
05:25No person should have to go into debt, crushing debt, in order to get an education.
05:32We have a moral obligation, an economic obligation, a political obligation to cancel student loan
05:39debt in the United States of America.
05:41We can stop writing these ridiculous articles that young people are killing diamond rings
05:46and they're not buying houses and they're killing this industry or that, that we're
05:50not having children.
05:52It's because we're being crushed by immoral debt.