"I have a dream..."
...that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
posted by camojack | 20:38
7 Comments:
Keep dreamin' Martin. It's still gonna be a while. But we ARE making progress!
There was a time when such idealism was inspirational to me. The harsh realities of life on this planet have cured me of that.
MargeinMI:
I agree with you...on both counts; it's still gonna be awhile, but we are making progress.
'da Bunny:
The harsh realities of life can easily do that if you let them.
(Try not to let them...)
Stirring words for sure! I recorded the speech onto a reel-to-reel tape recorder back in the 'sixties off the television.
I don't think it was the original speech from August 28, 1963 that I recorded. I would have been 11 years old at the time, and not much interested in politics. I think it was probably the fifth anniversary of the speech on August 28, 1968.
MLK was gunned down in Memphis Tennessee on April 4, 1968 and by August of that year was already becoming a "saint". I would have been 16 years of age at the time, and more politically inclined. They probably announced on TV that they were going to replay the famous 1963 speech, which gave me time and motivation to set up the reel-to-reel recorder.
God only knows what happened to the tape (or the tape recorder for that matter). Ahh well, such was life before I started recording on the hot new technology of the day... 8-track tapes!
(:D) Regards...
Hawkeye®:
MLK was no saint. None of us qualifies, except in the broadest definition: "A person who has died and gone to heaven; A member of any of various religious groups". But he was definitely a martyr, who gave his life for a noble cause.
I remember 8-tracks...they stank on ice.
Bob_inSpain:
I look forward with hope to the day when we can all be simply Americans. If such a day ever comes.
Regarding "short, fat, geeky guys", they make the world go 'round...
Notice in that last paragraph MLK doesn't mention Muslims?Of course ,he doesn't name Hispanics,Orientals, or Native Americans either, so maybe he wasn't really prejudiced. He didn't say anything about Agnostics or Athiests ,so if one wanted to get picky.... Naw, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Barb:
He didn't mention Buddhists or Hindus either...but that wasn't the point, y'know? It was more about equality for everyone, without getting into a laundry list of every last ethnic group extant.
I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, yes...
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