I write in my blog these inspiring
words of Martin Luther King. I think that
fifty years after the big rally,
remain more relevant than ever. Please, remember these words.
I am happy
to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest
demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
But one
hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the
life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and
the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a
lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One
hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American
society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here
today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense
we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our
republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence,
they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This
note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well 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 promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead
of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad
check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we
refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe
that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this
nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon
demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also
come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This
is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing
drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now
is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the
sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the
quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the
time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be
fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering
summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an
invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an
end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off
steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns
to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America
until the Negro is granted his citizenship 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 the warm threshold which
leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place,
we must not be 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 evidenced
by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny 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
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 the Negro is the victim
of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. 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 our children are stripped of their
self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites
Only." We cannot 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 righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
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 jail cells. And some of you have come
from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have
been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that
unearned suffering is redemptive. 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 and will be changed.
Let us not
wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so 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 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, and 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, and 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.
And this
will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able
to sing with 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.
And 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 snow-capped 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, and when we allow freedom 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!