I am happy to join with you today in what will godown in history as the greatest demonstration forfreedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whosesymbolic shadow we stand today, signed theEmancipation Proclamation. This momentousdecree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been searedin the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of theircaptivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of theNegro 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 vastocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in thecorners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come heretoday to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of ourrepublic 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 apromise 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 thatAmerica 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 isbankrupt. We refuse to believe that there areinsufficient funds in the great vaults ofopportunity of this nation. And so, we've come tocash this check, a check that will give us upondemand the riches of freedom and the security ofjustice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. Thisis no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug ofgradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to risefrom the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is thetime to lift our nation from the quicksands 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 swelteringsummer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigoratingautumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And thosewho hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rudeawakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nortranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revoltwill 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 intothe palace of justice: In the process of gaining ourrightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongfuldeeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst forfreedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness andhatred. We must forever conduct our struggle onthe high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest todegenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights ofmeeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead usto a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by theirpresence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. Andthey have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And 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 civilrights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never besatisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of theunspeakable horrors of police brutality. We cannever be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy withthe fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in themotels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New Yorkbelieves he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not besatisfied 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. And some of you have come from areaswhere your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution andstaggered 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, goback to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation canand will be changed.
Let
us
not
wallow
in
the
valley
of
despair
,
I
say
to
you
today
,
my
friends
.
And so even though we face the difficulties of todayand tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dreamdeeply 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 sonsof 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 ofinjustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis offreedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not bejudged 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 beexalted, and every hill and mountain shall be madelow, the rough places will be made plain, and thecrooked places will be made straight; "and the gloryof the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall seeit together."?
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go backto the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. Withthis faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautifulsymphony 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 wewill be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing withnew 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.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltopsof New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of NewYork.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies ofPennsylvania.
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 andevery hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all ofGod's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, willbe 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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