'A Chill Wind Is Blowing
In This Nation...'
Transcript of the speech given
by actor Tim Robbins to the National Press Club in
Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2003
Tim
Robbins: Thank you. And thanks for the invitation.
I had originally been asked here to talk about the
war and our current political situation, but I have
instead chosen to hijack this opportunity and talk
about baseball and show business. (Laughter.) Just
kidding. Sort of.
I
can't tell you how moved I have been at the overwhelming
support I have received from newspapers throughout
the country in these past few days. I hold no illusions
that all of these journalists agree with me on my
views against the war. While the journalists' outrage
at the cancellation of our appearance in Cooperstown
is not about my views, it is about my right to express
these views. I am extremely grateful that there are
those of you out there still with a fierce belief
in constitutionally guaranteed rights. We need you,
the press, now more than ever. This is a crucial moment
for all of us.
For
all of the ugliness and tragedy of 9-11, there was
a brief period afterward where I held a great hope,
in the midst of the tears and shocked faces of New
Yorkers, in the midst of the lethal air we breathed
as we worked at Ground Zero, in the midst of my children's
terror at being so close to this crime against humanity,
in the midst of all this, I held on to a glimmer of
hope in the naive assumption that something good could
come out of it. More
