Ich bin ein Berliner Speech: Sentences 6-22 Summary

Where He Actually Talks About Real-Life World Events

  • It turns out that not everyone in the world gets this whole communism thing…although some people may just be liars who actually do understand communism.
  • He invites those people to Berlin.
  • Grudging admission number one: There are some people who might kind of like the idea of communism.
  • He invites those people to Berlin.
  • Kennedy scoffs at the idea that some people might actually think it's possible to work with communists.
  • He invites those people to Berlin.
  • Grudging admission number two: The American way of governing has flaws.
  • However, only communists have to build walls to keep their people from running away to someplace better.
  • Claim number one: Americans care about what's happening in Berlin.
  • Claim number two: Americans don't have any Schadenfreude (a cool German word that means that you gain pleasure from other's misfortunes) about the fact that the wall clearly shows what a big whopping failure the communist system is.
  • Kennedy paraphrases Berlin's mayor about how much the wall hurts.
  • Mini current event: Germany is also currently split in two and it destabilizes Europe.
  • Kennedy says that Germans have being good sports about all this for eighteen years, which has earned them the right to unify.
  • He asks Berliners to imagine a future without a wall dividing their city (as if they didn't already do that all the time).