12C MLK/The Charlotte Post Thursday, January 16,1997
Speech is one of America’s greatest oratorical gems
Continued From 11C
wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our
thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bit
terness 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 phys
ical 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 distrust of all white people, for many of our
white brothers, as evidenced by their presence
here today, have come to realize that their destiny
is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is
inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot
walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that
we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There
are those who are asking the devotees of civil
rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never
be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the
fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels
of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We
cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic
mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in
Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York
believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no,
we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied
until justice rolls down like waters and righteous
ness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come
here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of
you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of
you have come from areas where your quest for
freedom left you battered by the storms of perse
cution and staggered by the winds of police bru-
tahty. You have been the veterans of creative suf
fering. Continue to work with the faith that
unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, 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 and will
be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of
despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the
difficulties and frustrations of the moment, 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 on the red hills of
Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of
former slaveowners will be able to sit down togeth-
erat a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of
Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the
heat of injustice and oppression, will be trans
formed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four 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 the state of
Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently drip
ping with the words of interposition and nullifica
tion, will be transformed into a situation where lit
tle black boys and black girls will be able to join
hands with little white boys and white girls and
walk together 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 with which I
return to the South. With this faith we will be able
to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone
ofhope. With this faith we will be able to transform
the jangling discords ofour nation into a beautiful
symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we
willbe 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 coun
try, ‘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 peaks 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 every mole
hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let
freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, whem 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 spir
itual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God
Almighty, we are free at last!”
Text courtesy of University of Minnesota College
Happy Birthday
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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