I am going to go a bit further than the previous answer and say that the key is the very last three words (and punctuation): "the truth I speak!" What this means is that a debater must believe, ... further, ... must KNOW that the words he speaks are the truth (no matter WHAT the debate is about). There are no other sides. There is only a "dissenting voice," which is not a true opponent.
Now we must go even further and realize the CONTEXT of this speech. The debate coach, Melvin Tolson, must lead his African American team to victory, ... in the aftermath of the Civil War reconstruction: the 1930s. At the time, the African American fear of white people was very, very real. Lynchings (and other hate crimes) were common.
The African Americans of Tolson's debate team, then, were actually AFRAID of their opponents for their own safety as well as the muted (and erroneous) fear that whites were better than blacks, even at debating. This was Tolson's attempt at getting rid of that fear. God: the only judge. Truth: the only winner.
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