"I Have A Dream"
                         by Martin Luther King, Jr,

     _________________________________________________________________

   Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on
   August 28, 1963. Source: Martin Luther King, Jr: The Peaceful Warrior,
   Pocket Books, NY 1968

   Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we
   stand 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 captivity. But one hundred years
   later, we must face the tragic fact that 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 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 languishing in the corners of American
   society and finds himself an exile in his own land.
   So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a
   sense we have 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 would be guaranteed the
   inalienable 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
   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 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 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 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 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 Georgia, go
   back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern
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   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 together at 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 transformed into an oasis of         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 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 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 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 strive 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 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 molehill of Mississippi. From
   every mountainside, let freedom ring.

   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!"
SAUCE00"I have a dream"                   [ January 20 ]                          19970121G)