(watch video) I want to thank each and every one of you, cause each time I come to these gatherings I am so humbled and so fired up because we're part of a democratic awakening.

It was three weeks ago; the mainstream press said this is just a fad and now we got 101 cities in the world, we got 75 cities in America, and it's growing every day precisely because people are morally outraged at the wealth inequality.

It's just not right that 42% of our present children of all colors are living in or near poverty in the richest nation in the history of the world.

That's a moral disgrace. That's obscenity. It's ethical abomination.

And 1% of the population has 42% of the wealth, 1% of the population had 83% of the income growth in the last 10 years, and the top 10% had 100% of the income growth. What does that mean? It means that poor people working people, the 99% find themselves wrestling with wages that have flattened out, stagnating, with costs going up.

Something is wrong in America. And let us be very clear about this. Let us be very clear that this is not anti-America, it is anti-injustice in America. And the best of America has always been those who came along, each generation, who straightened your backs up and said we're gonna take a stand for something bigger than this, bigger than ourselves. But we're cuttin' in a culture where we've got this addiction and self medication and narcissism and hedonism; nothing but cultural weapons of mass distraction that don't want people to think about what's going on and come together. And what's so beautiful about it - we are all colors, we are all cultures, we are all religions - thank god for our atheistic and agnostic brothers and sisters as part of this - we are all classes, we are all civilizations, we are all genders, we are all sexual orientations. Why? Because justice is something bigger than each and every one of us.

And don't let anybody tell you that this is about hating anybody. No, not at all; this is what the O'Jays call a love train, this is what John Coltrane called love supreme. Because justice is what love looks like in public, just like democracy is what justice looks like in practice. And we're here because we're democrats - small 'd.' Small 'd'. 'Cause if you're a democrat small 'd', that means you fundamentally believe in the depths of your heart that a brother or sister of any color who's poor has the exact same value as a brother or sister who's well to do, and they deserve to have a focus when it comes to our public policy. That's what we're fundamentally for. And we're bearing witness to do that, and we're doing it together.

That's what's so beautiful about this. I'll stay here under the sunshine of Los Angeles cause it might be raining in New York, it's a little chilly up in Chicago, Atlanta has about 55 but we're all coming together. Then we spill over our national boundaries. We've got brothers and sisters in Australia occupying, brothers and sisters in Britain, in Ireland, in Asia, in Latin America, in Africa. Oh yes. This is the US autumn responding to the Arab (April) Spring, and they're going to have to tell a story about how we came together. Why? Cause we are going to attempt to change this country - change it for the better.

And as our brother Howard Zinn used to say - oh, we miss brother Howard Zinn - he used to say, 'Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.' So stay strong, and we will be back at 5 o'clock. Because I told them, I'm not going into the studio. This is my studio. We're representing' the best in terms of what the nation is all about.

But if I'm not here my spirit is with you. Because the legacy of Martin is here. The legacy of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel is here. The legacy of Dorothy Day is here. The legacy of Cesar Chavez is here. The legacy of all those who came before is here. And we refuse to move forward unless we look back and remember those who did exactly the same thing. Look, the sister got Mandela right on her shirt. South Africa had to teach the world a democratic lesson. Tunisia, Egypt, northern Africa had to teach the world some democratic lessons. And now, the USA is gonna have to teach the world some democratic lessons, even those we got those immoral drones that are being dropped. We're still in Afghanistan ten years later. Corporate interests still shaping so much of the world in its own image.

We look up and see Goliath, but we've got David. We've got a slingshot. And what's in the slingshot is all of the courage and vision of everyday people who are willing to come together and make a difference. Stay strong in what you're doing, see you in just a few hours.