As a kid of twelve,
I saw Martin Luther King, Jr. on TV deliver his “I have a Dream” speech.
His speech stirred me, and caused me to think about the man’s hope, and aspirations.
Thought why couldn’t someone with the color of skin as his children be guaranteed his dream?
Mr. King stated that he had a dream “that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners would be able to sit down at the table of brotherhood”.
He stated that he had a dream “that one day even in 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”.
But the part that really got me was when he stated that he had a dream “that one day my four little children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”.
Now we have elected a president based on the content of character, and the color of his children. President Barack Obama, is riding Mr. King’s dream, and it’s come back full circle.
I would tend to believe that Mr. King is smiling down on us right about now, don’t you think?
I am inserting some of the last exerts from Mr. King’s speech:
“And 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 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 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!”
