My speech so far! (15 minutes late)

I still need the second and third paragraph, which we will be doing in class... soon?

Introduction:

Instead of telling you my topic right from the start, I’m instead going to read Soeren Palumbo’s story.  Soeren Palumbo was a senior in high school when he wrote his speech entitled “Retard,” and his sister was an elementary school student with special needs.  This segment is only the introduction of his speech, and while I read it, I would like you, the audience, to draw conclusions about what my topic is.

---------------------------------*deep breath*------------------------------

I want to tell you a quick story before I start. I was walking through our hallways, not minding my own business, listening to the conversations around me. As I passed the front door on my way to my English classroom, I heard the dialog between two friends nearby. For reasons of privacy, I would rather not give away their race or gender.

So the one girl leans to the other, pointing to the back of a young man washing the glass panes of the front door, and says, "Oh my gaw! I think it is so cute that our school brings in the black kids from around the district to wash our windows!" The other girl looked up, widened her slanted Asian eyes and called to the window washer, easily loud enough for him to hear, "Hey, Negro! You missed a spot!" The young man did not turn around. The first girl smiled a bland smile that all white girls - hell, all white people - have and walked on.

A group of Mexicans stood by and laughed (that high pitch laugh that all of them have). So, now it's your turn. What do you think the black window washer did? What would you do in that situation? Do you think he turned and calmly explained the fallacies of racism and showed the girls the error of their way? That's the one thing that makes racism, or any discrimination, less powerful in my mind. No matter how biased or bigoted a comment or action may be, the guy can turnaround and explain why racism is wrong and, if worst comes to worst, punch em in the face.

Discrimination against those who can defend themselves, obviously, cannot survive. What would be far worse is if we discriminated against those who cannot defend themselves. What then, could be worse than racism? Look around you and thank God that we don't live in a world that discriminates and despises those who cannot defend themselves. Thank God that every one of us in this room, in this school hates racism and sexism and by that logic discrimination in general. Thank God that every one in this institution is dedicated to the ideal of mutual respect and love for our fellow human beings. Then pinch yourself for living in a dream. Then pinch the hypocrites sitting next to you. Then pinch the hypocrite that is you. Pinch yourself once for each time you have looked at one of your fellow human beings with a mental handicap and laughed. Pinch yourself for each and every time you denounced discrimination only to turn and hate those around you without the ability to defend themselves, the only ones around you without the ability to defend themselves. Pinch yourself for each time you have called yourself or someone else a "retard".

If you have been wondering about my opening story, I'll tell you that it didn't happen, not as I described it. Can you guess what I changed? No, it wasn't the focused hate on one person, and no it wasn't the slanted Asian eyes or cookie cutter features white people have or that shrill Hispanic hyena laugh (yeah, it hurts when people make assumptions about your person and use them against you doesn't it?). The girl didn't say "hey Negro." There was no black person. It was a mentally handicapped boy washing the windows. It was "Hey retard." I removed the word retard. I removed the word that destroys the dignity of our most innocent. I removed the single most hateful word in the entire English language. I don't understand why we use the word; I don't think I ever will.

            ------------------------------------*Deep Breath*------------------------------------

For those who haven’t already guessed, my purpose here is to inform you of the harmful social and emotional effects of the word “retard.”  Most of you may not know what you are saying when you use the word “retard.”  Most of you probably think it means stupid, idiotic, or slow.  Having been in the special education system for several years, I know that there is absolutely NO reason to incur any sort of hatred on the mentally handicapped.  I know that they will love you even when you hurt them.  That’s what you do when you use the word “retard.”  The word retard is a hurtful word intended to insult a large group of people without the ability to defend themselves.  The three main topics of my speech are definitions and etymologies of words pertinent to my topic, ways that people with special needs, as well as those who love them, are hurt, and how giving kindness to those who give nothing but kindness can benefit both you and them.

First Main Point:

         In order to understand why this word is so hateful, you first need to understand some other key terms.  First, according to Webster’s online dictionary, Retard is defined as an often offensive term describing a person held to resemble a retarded person in behavior.   Etymonline, an online etymology dictionary records the first modern use of the word as 1970, being an offensive term referring to a mentally handicapped person, or someone exhibiting qualities of a mentally handicapped person.  Since both sources agree that this word is offensive, why are we still using it?  Second, the word discrimination is vital to understanding why the word retard started being used.  In Webster’s online dictionary, it is defined as the act, practice, or an instance of discriminating categorically rather than individually.  Christopher Hitchens made this quote about racism, but it applies to any form of stereotyping, “It especially annoys me when racists are accused of 'discrimination.' The ability to discriminate is a precious facility; by judging all members of one 'race' to be the same, the racist precisely shows himself incapable of discrimination.” 

********** I would have had a transition here, but its on a different copy************

Third, unconditional love is when a person gives love, despite any sort of mistreatment.  This is why many people find it so easy to hurt those with a mental handicap, because often times, they give unconditional love.  Finally, there are many different types of special needs, among which, the main two are Autism and Down’s Syndrome.  Autism is a spectrum ranging from severe to mild with several types in between, such as Aspergers, which is marked by average or superior intelligence, which is undermined by strongly lacking social skills.  Autism has no known cause, and early detection is nearly impossible.  Down’s Syndrome is also a spectrum ranging from mild to severe.  It is caused by and extra 23^rd chromosome, and is marked by physical differences, thus making early detection easy.  Both autism and down syndrome affect social and mental function.  Now that you have an understanding of the key definitions used in my speech, it is vital that an understanding of how those with mental handicap and those who love them are insulted and how people with mental handicap are loved and give unconditional love.

Conclusion:

            In closing, the word “retard” is mostly used because people don’t understand what they are really saying when they use it.  Again, the word “retard” is a hurtful word intended to insult a large group of people without the ability to defend themselves!  The point of this speech was to impart crucial knowledge onto you, the audience.  I wanted you to understand the true meanings of words, both connotative and denotative.  I wanted you to understand how you affect those around you with mental handicap.  And I wanted you to understand something that for a few of you may be far too profound.  I wanted you to understand how they affect you.  How they affect you on the inside.  In Soeren Palumbo’s speech, the speech in the beginning, he states two more vitally important things.  He says, in reference to his mentally handicapped sister, “I have learned infinitely more from her simple words and love than I have from any classroom of ‘higher education’.”  He also says four extremely powerful words.  These words are, “I love you, Olivia.”  He says this because honestly, who else would?  Who else would give her the love and kindness he gave her?  I honestly believe one person can change the world.  Whether or not you try is your choice.  Thank you.