The Honorable Fernando Ferrer's Speech Before the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, July 29, 2004

REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY AT 4:29 PM EDT

BOSTON, July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a transcript of a speech by the Honorable Fernando Ferrer Before the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, July 29, 2004:

I am a proud Democrat. Soy el hijo de padres Puertorriquenos.

My family came to New York City from Puerto Rico on the wings of hope and opportunity. We didn't learn about the American Dream from reading a textbook. We learned it by living it -- by working hard and playing by the rules.

But today, that dream is in danger. Families work hard, but the rules seem stacked against them. They don't understand why we build firehouses in Baghdad and close them in Brooklyn.

We need a president who will bring hope to every American family. We need a president who'll fight every day to expand opportunity for middle class families, and those who want to work their way into the middle class, just like mine did. We need President John Kerry because he believes that we're a stronger nation when every family and child has the same opportunities that I had.

My friends, electing John Kerry is just as important today as electing John Kennedy was in 1960. Back then, I was ten, and every Sunday my family and I went to church and then to my grandmother's ground floor apartment on Tinton Avenue in the South Bronx for breakfast. And as the neighbors walked by the window, they would ask my father who he was voting for. And he'd tell them: "Kennedy." I asked him, "Dad, why are we voting for Kennedy?" And he said, "Because we're Democrats."  I asked him, "Why are we Democrats?" And he said, "Because Democrats care about people like us."

I was only ten, but I knew what he meant. That's when I became a Democrat. Democrats care about people who work hard all week to spend time with their families; about people living their lives and working hard to do better.

So this election, if my young grandson Brendan asks me why I'm voting for John Kerry, I'll tell him, it's because I want for him the kind of America that made it possible for our own family to achieve the dream of America; an America where no one puts him in harm's way without a good reason; an America where no one is left behind. Our America, again.

Source: Democratic National Convention Committee

CONTACT:  Peggy Wilhide of the Democratic National Convention Committee,
+1-617-366-3100

Web site:  http://www.dems2004.org/