MLK

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. ~Martin Luther King


I had planned today to write some pithy blog about Martin Luther King, write some words about the beauty of his "I Have a Dream" speech, add my thoughts on the qualities that made him an iconic leader in the history of America. As I was preparing this I realized that his speeches have been picked apart and analyzed countless times. I realized that his leadership has been ruminated upon by many minds greater than I ever hope to be. I realized that anything I wrote could not and would not do justice to a man that sought justice for all people in America even unto his murder. In that light, I will not write about MLK. Instead, I will simply post the words from the 2nd half of one of the most impactful and most beautiful speeches ever calling this nation to mobilize.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustration 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 slave owners 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 freedom 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's 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 ever 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.

With this faith we will be able to hew out to 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 brother hood. With this faith we will be able 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 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 father's died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America s to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hill tops 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, 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!