Forty-five years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a man stood and spoke...
"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 mean are created equal...
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..
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will 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, this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with 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...
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."
Brother Martin, if you had lived to see this day, I think you would agree your dream has become a reality. How can we thank you?
