Reflection on García Lorca's Legacy

As I looked forward to this morning, I have returned to the words of

a man who I know is a hero to many here,

Federico García Lorca. "Córdoba, far and

lonely, black pony, full moon, and olives in

my pocket. Although I know the roads, I'll never reach

Córdoba."

When García Lorca published Writer's Song nearly ninety years ago,

the world, just as it is now, was in a moment of

immense darkness and upheaval.

Fascism crept across Europe. Here in New York, where

García Lorca had found a deep resonance between the African American

poetry of Harlem and the flamenco of his native Spain,

isolationism was the prevailing movement of the day.

Our nation had been scarred by conflict and suffering.

In nineteen thirty-seven, we did not see ourselves as

interconnected,

but safer the more separate we were.

In Spain, as the Civil War raged, Franco's forces of

repression perpetrated atrocities against those they deemed to be too

left-wing. A year before Writer's Song was published,

García Lorca was killed by Franco's men, executed by a firing

squad. He was right. He never reached Córdoba.

García Lorca never concealed his beliefs.

He believed too deeply in the possibility of a better world.

Today, nine decades later,

those of us in this room hold the power to make that vision

a reality.

We can carry our movement for equality and justice to further

horizons than we ever thought possible.

The full moon guides our path, and we too know the roads.

I'm so proud to be joined by Prime Minister Sánchez and Motley, two champions

of working people.