Political events are not often the locations for deeply emotional moments, but on the last night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, a young boy with a stutterer managed to deliver one in two minutes.
Thirteen-year-old Brayden Harrington was invited to speak at the event after meeting Joe Biden at a rally in New Hampshire in February.
When Biden, a fellow stutterer, learned about Harrington’s speech problems at the rally, he invited him out to the stage. There, Biden showed him the speech he had just delivered and the annotations he used to signal when to breathe, and gave him advice and exercises to overcome his stutter.
“He put his focus on Brayden and made time for him, talking to him, explaining that it did not define him. He is stronger, that he is a good person,” Brayden’s father, Owen, told CNN at the time. ‘It was really overwhelming before [him]. He started to break a bit. ”
Six months later, Harrington hit trees in the homes of millions of Americans and sparked one of the most acclaimed speeches of the four-night convention.
It was one of many stories highlighted by the all-virtual Democratic convention this week, which featured a number of speeches by non-politicians such as Kristin Urquiza, whose father died of coronavirus, and health activist Ady Barkan.
In Harrington’s address, the teenager said that ‘without Joe Biden I would not be talking to you today’, and that Biden had told him during their first meeting that they were ‘members of the same club’.
“It was really great to hear that someone like me became Vice President. He told me about a book of poems by Yeats that he would read aloud to practice, ”he said. ‘He showed me how to mark his addresses to make them sound louder. So I did the same thing today. And now I’m talking to you here today about the future, about our future. ”
Veteran American journalist Dan Rather described Harrington’s speech as “pure, unvarnished courage”, while CNN’s senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny tweeted that he was “just remarkable. What courage and guts it took him to do this. Good luck, Brayden. You will go far. ‘
Other viewers also found Harrington’s speech emotional to watch, and a show-stealer.
Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈
(@Amy_Siskind)13 year old Brayden Harrington …. tears …. rolling.
“We need the world to feel better.”
“Kids like me are counting on you to choose one we can look forward to.”
Fatsoen. I’m missing shape. The president should be a role model, not a cautious story!
Best part tonight so far 💙
Meena Harris
(@meenaharris)Brayden Harrington stole the show, and I think that would make Joe very happy. ❤️
Meanwhile, some contrasts of Biden’s treatment of Harrington with Trump’s behavior towards people with a disability, with Arianna Huffington marking the incident in the 2016 election campaign when Trump officially imitated reporter Serge Kovaleski, who has been expelled.
Arianna Huffington
(@ariannahuff)Brayden Harrington’s video about having a stutterer like Biden was also a stark contrast to the president mocking reporters with a disability. #DemConvention
De official Video of Harrington’s speech uploaded by the DNC Twitter account has been viewed more than 2m times, although the actual figure across all uploads is likely to be much higher.
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