—Would I be standing beside my husband if it were true? Would I have stuck with him when the government took our home? When they took our jobs? When they took our money and the food from our table? We lost everything. Now, you’ve gladly listened to the lies. Let me tell you the facts. Jesse’s never hurt another person in his life. He’s never been in a bar fight, or street altercation. He’s never raised his voice against me! As for war, he couldn’t dream of taking up arms against another soul. He doesn’t believe in violence. He believes in love! He believes in love deeper than anything! He believes in fairness for all men and women, no matter where they’re born or the colour of their skin. You can disagree with what we believe in if you want. You can tell us we’re fools for our ideas. But don’t tell us that we don’t love each other.

As she stepped down from the crate, Jesse saw how her words had turned the crowd in his favour, pulling more attention his way. He regretted his retreat from public speaking. He’d allowed insinuation to fill the silence. It was his duty to put the truth out there even if the mainstream channels were closed to him. It was his duty to stand up to his enemies no matter how heavily the odds were stacked against him. He’d been beaten down into believing that the truth had no value. It did: it was stronger than their lies and the audience heard it in their voices when they spoke. Encouraged, he tried to move from a conversation to a polemic. It was time to say what he’d come here to say.

—Now that we’re done rebutting the false allegations, can we speak about what really matters? What matters to millions of Americans up and down this great country? The unfairness, the bias, the intolerance and the institutionalized discrimination not only of black Americans but of all poor Americans!

He put aside his prepared material, speaking off the cuff. Just as his Russian had come back to him in satisfying, rolling waves of words and phrases, so did the words of outrage perfected over hundreds of speeches, years of protests. His audience swelled, unified in his direction, men and women of different ages and races. Some of the anti-war protestors joined him, putting down their drums, allowing his words to be heard. It was the biggest audience he’d addressed in nearly ten years and they weren’t there for his songs, or to be entertained, they were there to change the world. And the crowd continued to grow, more and more people arriving, pressing into the area behind the steel barricades.

An angry woman called out:

—If you love the Soviet Union do much why don you go back with them to Russia!