Dick Van Dyke is the latest celebrity to throw his support behind Kamala Harris.
The beloved 98-year-old actor made a rare appearance on social media Monday to endorse Harris in Tuesdayâs tight presidential race against Donald Trump.
âHi! Iâm Dick Van Dyke,â the âMarry Poppinsâ star began the black-and-white video. âYou may remember I used to sing and dance and fall down a lot, actually.â
Despite turning 99 in December, Van Dyke was full of energy and enthusiasm as he set the scene for his endorsement.
â50 years ago â May 31st, 1964 â I was on the podium with Dr. Martin Luther King, who was addressing some 60,000 people in the Colosseum in LA and I was there to read a message written by Rod Serling, the guy who wrote âTwilight Zone,ââ he said.
âI got it out the other day and I think it means as much today â if not more â than it did then, so if you donât mind, Iâd like to read it.â
Van Dyke, who wore a polo shirt and glasses, then read a short section of the original address, which Serling titled at the time, âA Most Non-Political Speech.â
âHatred is not the norm. Prejudice is not the norm. Suspicion, dislike, jealousy [and] scapegoatingâŠ. none of those are the transcendent facets of the human personality,â he recited.
âThey are diseases. They are the cancers of the soul. They are the infectious and contagious viruses that have been breeding humanity for years,â he continued.
âAnd because they have been and because they are, is it necessary that they shall be?â he asked. âI think not.â
As long as there is âone voice left to say âwelcomeâ to a stranger,â âone hand outstretched to say âenter and shareââ and âone mind remaining to think a thought of warmth and friendshipâ then there is still hope for humanity, according to Serling and Van Dyke.
The âChitty Chitty Bang Bangâ star believes there is âessential decency,â âbasic goodnessâ and âpreeminent dignityâ in everyone â even if we donât always act on it.
âThere will be moments of violence and expressions of hatred and an ugly echo of intolerance, but these are the clinging vestiges of a decayed past, not the harbingers of the better, cleaner future,â he recited.
âTo those who tell us that the inequality of the human animal is a necessary evil, we must respond by simply saying that first, it is evil but it is not necessary,â he continued. âWe prove it, sitting here tonight in 1964. We prove it by reaffirming our faith. We prove it by having faith in our affirmations.â
Van Dyke closed out the speech by reciting a quote from Horace Mann, which read, âBe ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. Iâd like to paraphrase that tonight. âLet us be ashamed to live without that victory.ââ
While the actor noted that âa lot has happenedâ since he first read the passage 50 years ago, much has also remained the same.
âItâs not what Martin Luther King dreamed of but itâs a start,â he concluded. âThank you and God bless.â
Although Van Dyke did not explicitly mention Harris in his video, he tagged the Vice President and her official campaign page in his caption.
âVOTE!!!â he wrote.
Read the full article here