: Given the extraordinary election of Barack Obama, Dr. King's famous I have a dream speech seems particularly timely.
Here's the video:
And for those of you who can't see videos, here's the full text of the speech:
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.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.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is 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 a shameful 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, 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 lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. 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 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. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always 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 the 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 our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot 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 jail 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, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, 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 the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of 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, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls 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 that I go back 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 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 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 to 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!"
*****************************
THANK YOU DR. KING FOR GIVING YOUR LIFE FOR ME TO HAVE A DECENT QUALITY OF LIFE!
BLACK PEOPLE LISTEN AND TAKE HEED!
PLAY THIS SPEACH FOR YOUR BROTHERS, SISTERS AND KIDS TO HEAR!
BE THE STRONG, HARD WORKING PEOPLE YOU WERE MEANT TO BE!
STOP KILLING EACH OTHER!
STOP HATING ON EACH OTHER!
STOP HAVING SEVERAL KIDS BY SEVERAL FEMALES AND NOT CREATING A HOME WITH EACH OTHER!
GO TO SCHOOL!
STOP SELLING THE DRUGS IT WILL ONLY KILL YOUR KIDS!
STOP TAKING THE DRUGS AND GET A JOB!
BLACK PEOPLE TAKE YOUR PLACE!
YOU ARE A PEOPLE OF DIGNITY AND STRENGTH!
REGAIN YOUR PLACES BLACK PEOPLE!
******************************************
"I just want to say: BARACK OBAMA BECOMING PRESIDENT IS NOT DR. KING'S DREAM BEING REALIZED. BLACK PEOPLE, DON'T GET LAZY! DON'T GET COMPLACENT THINKING YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE ON YOUR GAME. ACTUALLY, YOU SHOULD WORK HARDER THAN EVER NOW. OBAMA MAY BE THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT, MAKE SURE HE ISN'T THE LAST. STOP RAISING YOUR KIDS TO LIVE THE THUG LIFE AND LET THEM ASPIRE TO BE WHERE OBAMA IS NOW.
HE ALONE MAY HAVE BEEN JUDGED BY THE CONTENT OF HIS CHARACTER AND NOT HIS SKIN COLOR, BUT MILLIONS OF OTHER BLACK IN AMERICA DON'T GET THAT SAME OPPORTUNITY. BARACK MAY BE PRESIDENT (TOMORROW) BUT PREJUDICE AND IGNORANCE STILL EXIST. WHEN THE GLASS CEILINGS ARE BROKEN FOR EVERY BLACK MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD, THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL DR. KING'S DREAM BE REALIZED. THIS ELECTION ISN'T THE END, IT'S ONLY THE BEGINNING."
quote me and pass this message on, please
Amen jaydub!!! I'm co-signing with everything you said. Plus, WHY ISN'T THIS ARTICLE THE HEADLINE FOR MTO TODAY??? Come on, MTO, as SIGNIFICANT as Dr. King was, and STILL IS, and this being the day that we honor his legacy, his dream, which should be our collective dream as a people and a part of the HUMAN RACE, why isn't this the front article??? Come on MTO, get RELEVANT!
@HandsomeStallion
greatest speech ever spoken? Doubt it, you must be living in a box!...That speech did nothing for me, the man is overrated he didn't do anything great. MLK was all about kissing a** to make it, who cares if he didn't speak about violence, that doesn't make him great because he didn't, he only portrayed what people wanted to see, no one knows his life, what he did behind closed doors. FYI people were getting along way before he made that speech. The man was a preacher for goodness sake, he's saying the same thing that other preachers been saying for years. I'm sure others had the same dream. Obama is not the messiah, what the hell did he do other than run for office like other blacks have done, why because he was elected and he's black? Who cares about the first black president, I only care about the people and what he's going to do for them, I do not trust that Obama will do what he say's he's going to do, you can't do that in 4 or 8 years, are you serious? This country is fu**ed up because of these so called leaders that lie about what their going to do.
Its a shame how ignorant people are and its 2009. To the a$$holes who talked down about Dr. King and Obama hate on haters cause Dr. King was the best and still is. His spirit is still here and he's still praying for ignorant people that we still have in this country. Yo a$$ wasnt in no limo if anything a trailer park. 1st theres God, then Dr. King and now Obama. Fool get a life and go blog on the stupid a$$, ignorant, trailer park, hater website. MTO is for real people go get a life fool. I will pray for your ignorant a$$ also. Memphis represent!!!!Now I am going to the Civil Rights Musuem.
I can't believe there are actually people that have something negative to say. At least, Dr. King had a dream, what have any of you naysayers done or doing for black, white or anyone except keeping America down.
I have to agree with the rest of the board, this should've been the headliner. This is something my son had to study and recite.
ALL OF YOU NEED TO SERIOUSLY GROW UP. COME ON THE NAME CALLING, BASHING AND EVERYTHING ELSE, ESPECIALLY TODAY OF ALL DAYS.
EVERYONE ONE NEED TO GIVE THANKS ABOUT WHAT THEY HAVE AND WHAT THEY NEED TO ACHEIVE INSTEAD OF BRINGING DOWN EACHOTHER. STOP THINKING ABOUT WHAT WE COULD HAVE DONE AND WHAT WE NEED TO DO NOW.
From Dr. King's I Have A Dream Speech to the dream being fulfilled tomorrow Jan. 20, 2009. This approaching day is definitely a result of the hard work and sacrifice Dr. King along with plenty other unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement put in. President Obama will not only inspire Americans to be better citizens, but he will also inspire the hold world to be more cooperative and tolerable of each other.
I do believe that in a sense that Dr. King's dream was fulfilled. On tomorrow, Barack Obama will become the 1st African-American President of the U.S. Which is the highest office in the land. Of course we still have a long way to go. It's really sad that some people are so narrow-minded that they would come on a black-oriented website and spew hatred on MLK day! Some things will never change.
@ mtvthehills are you serious? Who do yu look up 002 as your leader? obviously yu are in a maze There is no way in hell yu will come out of your mouth and say that sh.it in public yU are probably a republican who effin voted 004 Bush for the past 2 elections and supported his well-being while yu bitch about the "[EXPLETIVE] up world" as yU stated Most people didn't just vote for Obama because he's black but because he's a democrat && we as American's believe in change another thing..... While yu sit at home && watch mtvthehills and fantasize about what your life is and could be think about what yu say and how yu say sh.it
Duces!
@mtvthehills and who ever else thats stupid po' white trash f^ck ya, your not even worth the time anymore. Black peolpe stop responding to this a$$hole remarks its not worth it cause this idiot is stupid and probably high on meth. Its funny to me to know just how simple minded some people are. This fool has no education, just foolish, stupid, ignorant, and a bastard. So dummy whatever else you post will go up my a$$ and I will $hit it out later. Obama!!He's is YOUR president if you dont like it bytch move to another country. BYOOOOTCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. MTO BLOCK THIS FOOL
Happy MLK Day
@mtvthehills and nickicky get the hell off this site. THIS IS AN ICONIC SPEECH FROM A CIVIL RIGHTS LEGEND. If you are capable of literacy, please look up the words "iconic" and "civil rights" in the dictionary, should you know how or where to locate one.
On another note, now that we have realized what our people can achieve (and to ensure that all our tireless civil rights leaders of the past have not died in vain) maybe now we can stop calling each other the n word.....
@MTVHILLS your comments and ur way of thinking are messed up. let me say this, i AM white. so IM going to respond to this b*tch. MLK was a wonderful wise man that brought us together. Obama was the best thing to happen to this country. I was never raised around racism nor do i have ancestors that had anything to do with slavery. ITS WHITE PEOPLE like YOU that make ALL white people LOOK RACIST!!! DONT be mad because blacks have as much power, money and rights as everyone else. THEY MUCH deserved it and MLK's speech was a long time coming. TO THINK and TO SEE racism today is [EXPLETIVE] up and its very upsetting because we dont all feel like most hillbilly rednecks feel about blacks. Some of my closest and most loyal friends n loved ones are black YOU ARE A SAD IGNORANT INDIVIDUAL that lives in some other world and u really need to get a clue. Do u think everyone needs to be like LC LOL. Im so sorry you are a stupid ass redneck I pray to god that you dont have any children
@stormzoe think what u want. Is it hard for you to believe that there are white people that dont look down on blacks, or feel some way about them? Yes my response was emotional, not over the top but to the point. Everything i said is very true and from the heart. so whatever i dont need to prove anything to u. I must have bothered u that bad.....
@bikergyrl Thanks!!!!
@Dids
for one I'm not racist, I said that MLK wasn't the only person to make a change for the people, it was more than him. I don't respect his view on things but that was what he did. I respect and Honor Malcoml X before I would honor this man. He was ok, but he never really did anything for me to look at him like that.and Obama is just a puppet just like Bush was, the real power is behind Obama....Illuminati is using a black president to set up their world goverment people I'm not making this stuff up obama is the ultimate sleeper cell look for a video put obama sleeper cell A BLACK person is saying obama is no good!!!.
This is sad... yall really still dont get it... this is about everyone loving everyone and people just cant get it... if you want to hate white people because of slavery then do so...but know this whites ourselfs know what happened and we know it was wrong but there is nothing we can do now about it...if i could i would... you cant take something back and trust me i am by no means saying forget what happened to you people you should never do that but hate those whites that are never remorseful and those who want to carry that stupidness out...but pls stop hating all whites. black people hate when a white person put them into a catrgory so why reverse it and put us into one.....i would love for MLK's dream to come true but saddly i dont think whites and blacks will ever stop this and that hurts for my kids who are bi-racial and have no choice but to be them..and they will be hated because of what some stupid azz white people did....that sux
GOD bless MKL
