"I Have A Dream"
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Five score year* ago, a great
American, in whose symbolic shad
ow we stand today, signed tfte
Emancipation Proclamation. This
momentous decree came as a great
beacon light of hope to millions of
Negro slaves, -who had been seated
in the flames onwithering injustice.
It came as a joyous daybreak to end
the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years Jater. the
Negro is still not free. One hundred
years later, the life of the Negro is
still sadly crippled by the manacles
of segregation and the chains of dis
c rim Trial i on. One hundred years
later, the Negro lives on a lonely
tskmtf of poverty in' Ttrcmiidst of a
vast ocean of material prosperity.
- One hundred years later, the Negro
is still languishing in tht> corner nt
American society and finds himself
an exile in his own land. vSo. we
have come here today to dramatize a
shameful condition. ^ ^
In a sense we've come to o'ur
nation's capital to cash a check.
When the architects of our republic
?wrote the magnificent words of the
Cunsiuuiiorv-and the Declaration of
Independence, ttiev were signing a
promissorv note to which everv
* - -
American was to fall heir. This note
was a promise that all men ? yes,
black men as weU as white men ?
would be guaranteed the unalienable
rights of life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness.
It is obvious today that America
has defaulted on this promissor\
note insofar as her citizens of cplor
are concerned. Instead of honoring
this sacred obligation. America has
given the Negro people a bad check:
marked "insufficient funds." But we
refuse to believe that there are
insufficient funds in the-great vaults
of nppm rnnitN. .]f |his nation. So
we^e-come to cash this~check ? a
check-that will giv e us upon degiand
the riches of freedom and the securi
ty of justice. We have also come to
this hallowed spot to remind
America of the fierce urgencv of
NOW. This is no time to engage in
the luxurv of cooling off or to take
the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time t (. rmatTe~r e~aT" fh e
promises ot Democracy. Now is the
time to rise from the dark and deso
late valley ot segregation to the sun
lit path -of racial justice. Now is- the
time" to lift our nation from the
quicksands ot" racial injustice to the
solid rock of brotherhood. Now. is
the time to make justice a realitv for
all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation
to overlook the urgencv of the
moment. This sweltering summer of
the Negro's legitimate discontent
will not pass until there is an invigo
rating autumn of freedom and equal
ity. Nineteen sixty-three is not an
end. but a beginning. Those who
hope that the Negro needed to blow
off steam and* will now be content
will have a rude awakening if the
nation ft|mrns to business as usual.
There wilnbe neither rest nor tran
quillity in /^enca until the NegTo
is granted his ofczenship rights. The
whirlwinds of revolt will continue to
shake the foundations of our nation
until the bright day of justice
emerges.
But there is something that I
must say to my people who stand on
Jhe. warrrLthreshold which leads into,
the palace of justice. In the process
of gaining ofur rightful place, we
must not guilty of wrongful
deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our
thirst for freedom by drinking from
the cup" of bitterness and hatred.
We must-forever conduct our
struggle on the high plane of dignity
and discipline. We must not allow
our creative protest to degenerate
into physical violence. Again and
again we must rise to the majestic
heights of meeting physical force
with soul force. The marvelous new
militancy which has engulfed the
Negro community must not lead us
to a distrust of all white people, for
many of our white brothers, as evi
denced by-their presence here todayl
.have come to realize that their des
tin> is tied up with our destiny. And
they" have come to realize that their
freedom is inextricably bound to our
freedom We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make
the pledge that we shall always
march ahead. We cannot tum back.
There j#c those who ask the devo
tees of civil rights, "When will you
be satisfied?" We can never be satis
fied as long as the Negrj is the vic
tim of the unspeakable horrors of
police brutality, We can never be ?
satisfied as long as our bodies,
heav\ w ith the fatigue of travel, can
not gain lodging in the motels of the
highways and the hotels of the
c 1 1 1 e.s . We cannot be satisfied as
long as the Njegro's basic mobility is
from a smaller ghetto to a larger
one. We can never be satisfied ajr^
long as our children are stripped of
their selfhood and robbed of their
dignity by signs stating "For Whites
Only." We cannot be satisfied as
long as a Negro in Mississippi can
not vote and a Negro in New York
.believes he has nothing for which to
Note. No. no. we are not satisfied,
and we will not be satisfied until
justice rolls down like water and
righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some
of you have come here out of great
trials and tribulations. Some nf ynn
hav e come fresh from narrow jail
cells. Some pt you have come from
areas w here your quest for freedom
left \ ou battered by the storms of
persecution and staggered by the
w inds of police brutality. You have
been the veterans of creative suffer
ing. Continue to work with the faith
that unearned suffering is redemp
tive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back
to Alabama, go back to South
Carolina, go back to Georgia, go
back to Louisiana, go back to the
slums and ghettos of our northern
cities, knowing that somehow this
situation can anc^irtll be changed.
Let us not walldw in the valley of
despair.
I say to you today, my friends,
even though we face the difficulties
of today and tomorrow , I still have a
dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in
the American dream.
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 out
in the red hills of Georgia, the sons
of former slaves and the sons of for
mer slaveowners will be able to sit
down together at the table of broth
erhood. - ?
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 oppres
sion, will be transformed into an
oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four lit
tle children will one day live in a
nation where they will nor be judged
by the color of their skin but by 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 in Alabama little black
boys and black girls will be~abteTo
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 every mountain shall be
made low; the rough places will be
made plains, and the crooked places
will be made straight, and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed and all
flesh see it together.
This is our hope. This is the
faith that I will 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 natit)n into' a beautiful sympho
ny of brotherhood.
- With this faith, we will be able
to work together, to pray together, to
struggle together,, to go to jail
together, to climb up fotireedom
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 new meaning, 4\My cou?itry"r~
'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of
thee I sing. Land where my fathers
died, Land of the Pilgrims' pride,
From ev'ry mountainside, Let free
dom ring."
And if America is tn ty a
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 - AHeghenies of
Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the
snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the cur
vaceous slopes of California.
But not only that. Let freedom
ring from the Stone Mountain of
Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout
Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every
hill and molehill of Mississippi and
every mountainside.
When we let freedom ring,
when we let it ring from every tene
ment and every hamlet, from every
4tate 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 spiritual, "Ffee at
last, free at last! Thank God
Almighty, we are free at last!"
V
Martin Luther King Jr.
Striving for his dream
"I have a drqam. ... they will not be judged
by the color of their skin but by the content
of their character ... and walk together
as brothers and sisters ... "
a
The members of the YWCA, both locally and
nationally, embrace the YWCA One Imperative:
7"o thrust our collective power toward the r
elimination of racism wherever -it
and by
Empowering Families Center
777-1326
1201 Glade St.
722-5138
We're here for^ou.
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"Like life , racial understanding is not
something that we find but something that
we must create. And so the ability to work
together, to understand each other, will not
be found ready-made; it must be created
by the fact of contact. "
- Martin Luther King Jr.
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