Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 9 January 1997 — Page 10
• score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic sHadow |^;i$and today, signed the Emancipation Procktmation. ,i l^^m3fl'^f*to^ i -decnee came as a great beacon of light of hope to millions of Negro slaves had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a daybreak to end the long night of thejr fcaptivity, Bvt one hundred years later, the Negro dill 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. . z \ | 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 languished in the comers of American society and finds himself an exile in his ov^|^d. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful fn a sense we have come nation's capital to cash a check, Wheilf the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitu||| tion and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise mat all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be granted the unalienable rights of life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious toddy that America has defouHed 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" JlllB? But we refuse to belike’that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there ate insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check—a check that vdll give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of llllfc justice. Vyfe have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce utgency of now. This is no time taengage In the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilfihg drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to die fcom 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 racioi injustice to fbe 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 movement 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. 1963 Is not qn 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 wtH 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 paloee 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 dignify and discipline. We must not allow bur creative protest to degenerate Into physical violence. Again and dgoln we must rise to the mdjestlc 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, os evidenced by their presence here today, hove come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. This offense we share mounted to storm the battlements of injustice must be carried forth by t O;bl-raclaf army. We cannot walk alone. And os we walk, we must moke 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 con never be satisfied os 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 fatigue
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be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility to a larger one. satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only." We cemspl : :be.sb : llsfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a -Na|j|o In Nevv York believes he has nothing for which tp vote. No, vi^e are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like wafers ond righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of excessive trials and tribulation. Some of you have come fresfilrom narrow jofl cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggetbd by the winds of police brutality! You have been the veterans of creative sulfering. Gontinue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemiMMl Go back to Mississippi; go bock to Alabama; go back to South Carolina; go bock to Georgia; go back to Louisiana; go back to Hie slums and ghettos of the Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can, and w®b be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. So I soy to you, my friends, that even though we nHist fijce lhe diffiof today ond tomorrow, I still have a dream. It Is a dream deeply in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed-we hold these truths to be seif evident, that all men are created equal. I hove a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves ond sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream thof one day, even the state of Mississippi, o state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom ond justice. I have a dream my four little children will one day five in o nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have o dream today! I have o 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, that 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 b« exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places shall be mode straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that t 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 |al|^ge^Afa stand up for freec^ tqgether, knowing that we wiHbelyeetlte day This will be the dftof God's children will be able to sing wiHi new meaning*-"ihy country 'fis of thee; sweet land of liberty; of thee I sing; land where my father died, land of the pilgrim's pride; from every mountblh side, let freedom ring"—and if America is to be a great natioM^ must become true. ;V ^ So Jet freedom ring frogithe prodigious hilltops of Ne|f Bampshirp. u" Let freedom ring frofi the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. || Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of t|olorado< 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 Lobkbut Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside, let freedom ring. And whep we allow freedom to ring, when we let if ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children—black men and white men, Jews and gentiles. Catholics and Protestants—will be able to join bonds and to 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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