Extracts
from One of the most famous speeches of all time
...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………
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
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 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 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……….
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!"
