Fifty years ago yesterday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave that speech in Washington that galvanized our nation. We've come along way, all of us, although there's still more to be done.
I thought it might be worth reading the "Dream" section of the
speech one more time...
"... 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...the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave oweners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
...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!
...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 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 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...From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
...And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring in 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!"
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