"I Have A Dream" by Martin Luther King

written:

Initial words spoken from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, one

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we

stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous

decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro

slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It

came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles

of segregation and chains of discrimination. One hundred years later,

the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty, in the mist 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. So we've come here today to dramatize an

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. So we have 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 open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the

time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the

solid rock of brotherhood.

 It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the

moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. 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. 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.

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 foundation 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. 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 their freedom is inextricably

bound to our freedom. We can not 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 the Negro is the victim of 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 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.

 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 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, 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 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 together at the 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

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 the state of Alabama, whose governor's

lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and

nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little 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 plains,

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. 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, 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 come 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 in 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 let 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"

 Your Comments are deeply appreciated!!