Vam tias nej cov yog tij thiab cov yog niam yog txiv yog cov hlob yuav
pab tau peb ib haiv neeg hmoob li dr. king thiab.......just wanna share
vim tias hnub tim 15 lub 1 hli no yuav Honor nws.....vam tias nws qhov
speech uas peb tau hnov los lawm ntau xyoo nrog ntau tiam yuav rov los
refresh peb s/d kom sib hlub nrog sib pab mus....

NkaujStPaul

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I have a Dream
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on
August 28, 1963
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we
stand 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 captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the
Negro is
still 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
an appalling 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 would be guaranteed the inalienable 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 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.
Page 2.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment
and
to underestimate the determination of the Negro. 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 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 and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We
cannot
walk alone.
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.
Page 3.
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 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 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, that in spite of the difficulties and
frustrations
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, 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 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.
Page 4.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South.
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 peaks 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 every molehill of Mississippi.
From
every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, whem 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!"