Dick Van Dyke has endorsed Kamala Harris for president of the United States, by reading a speech he delivered at a 1964 civil rights event with Martin Luther King Jr. The Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star read the message which focused on how “hatred is not the norm” – which he said “means as much today, if not more, than it did then”. The US actor noted that “a lot has happened” since he first read the passage 50 years ago, “not so much as Martin Luther dreamed of but it’s a start,” he said.
“Fifty years ago – May 31st, 1964 — I was on the podium with Dr Martin Luther King, who was addressing some of the 60,000 people in the Colosseum in LA,” he said. “I was there to read a message written by Rod Serling, the guy who wrote The Twilight Zone. “I got it out the other day and I think it means as much today, if not more, than it did then, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to read it.
” Van Dyke, who wore a Ralph Lauren polo shirt and glasses, read a short section of the original address titled A Most Non-Political Speech. A scene from the Disney film Mary Poppins (1964) starring Dick Van Dyke (left) and Julie Andrews (United Archives/IFTN/PA) “They are diseases. They are the cancers of the soul.
They are the infectious and contagious viruses that have been breeding humanity for years. “And because they have been and because they are, is it necessary that they shall be? I think not.” Van Dyke said as long as there is “one voic.
