View source for I Have a Dream (Copypasta)

=== "I Have a Dream" Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King jr. ===
*Good to use on MLK Day Raid.
*The familiar "I have a dream" part of the speech starts about two-thirds through it.
 
I am happy to join with you today, <br>
in what will go down in history as <br>
the greatest demonstration for freedom <br>
in the history of our nation. <br>
Five score years ago, <br>
a great American, <br>
in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, <br>
signed the Emancipation Proclamation. <br>
This momentous decree came as <br>
a great beacon light of hope <br>
to millions of Negro slaves <br>
who had been seared in the flames of <br>
withering injustice. <br>
It came as a joyous daybreak <br>
to end the long night of their captivity. <br>
But one hundred years later, <br>
the Negro still is not free. <br>
One hundred years later, <br>
the life of the Negro is still sadly <br>
crippled by the manacles of segregation <br>
and the chains of discrimination. <br>
One hundred years later, <br>
the Negro lives on a lonely island <br>
of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean <br>
of material prosperity. <br>
One hundred years later, <br>
the Negro is still languished <br>
in the corners of American society <br>
and finds himself an exile in his own land. <br>
And so we've come here today to <br>
dramatize a shameful condition. <br>
In a sense we've come to our <br>
nation's capital to cash a check. <br>
When the architects of our republic <br>
wrote the magnificent words of the <br>
Constitution and the <br>
Declaration of Independence, <br>
they were signing a promissory note <br>
to which every American was to fall heir. <br>
This note was a promise that all men, <br>
yes, black men as well as white men, <br>
would be guaranteed the <br>
"unalienable Rights" of <br>
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." <br>
It is obvious today that America has <br>
defaulted on this promissory note, <br>
insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. <br>
Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, <br>
America has given the Negro people <br>
a bad check, a check which has <br>
come back marked "insufficient funds." <br>

But we refuse to believe that <br>
the bank of justice is bankrupt. <br>
We refuse to believe that there <br>
are insufficient funds in the great vaults <br>
of opportunity of this nation. <br>
And so, we've come to cash this check, <br>
a check that will give us upon <br>
demand the riches of freedom, <br>
and the security of justice. <br>
We have also come to this hallowed spot <br>
to remind America of the fierce <br>
urgency of Now. This is no time to engage <br>
in the luxury of cooling off or to take the <br>
tranquilizing drrug of gradualism. <br>
Now is the time to make real the <br>
promises of democracy. <br>
Now is the time to rise from the dark <br>
and desolate valley of segregation <br>
to the sunlit path of racial justice. <br>
Now is the time, <br>
to lift our nation from the quicksands <br>
of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. <br>
Now is the time to make justice a reality <br>
for all of God's children. <br>
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook <br>
the urgency of the moment. <br>
This sweltering summer of the Negro's <br>
legitimate discontent will not pass until <br>
there is an invigorating autumn of <br>
freedom and equality. <br>
Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, <br>
but a beginning. <br>
And those who hope that the Negro <br>
needed to blow off steam and will now <br>
be content will have a rude awakening <br>
if the nation returns to business as usual. <br>

And there will be neither rest nor <br>
tranquility in America until the Negro <br>
is granted his citizenship rights. <br>
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to <br>
shake the foundations of our nation, <br>
until the bright day of justice emerges. <br>
But there is something that I must say <br>
to my people, who stand on the warm <br>
threshold which leads into the palace of justice: <br>
In the process of gaining our rightful place, <br>
we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. <br>
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst <br>
for freedom by drinking from the cup <br>
of bitterness and hatred. <br>
We must forever conduct our struggle <br>
on the high plane of dignity and discipline. <br>
We must not allow our creative protest <br>
to degenerate into physical violence. <br>
Again and again, <br>
we must rise to the majestic heights <br>
of meeting physical force with soul force. <br>
The marvelous new militancy which has <br>
engulfed the Negro community, <br>
must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, <br>
for many of our white brothers, <br>
as evidenced by their presence here today, <br>
have come to realize that their destiny is <br>
tied up with our destiny! <br>

They have come to realize that <br>
their freedom is inextricably <br>
bound to our freedom.  <br>
We cannot walk alone. <br>
And as we walk, <br>
we must make the pledge that <br>
we shall always march ahead. <br>
We cannot turn back. <br>
There are those who are asking <br>
the devotees of civil rights, <br>
"When will you be satisfied?" <br>
We can never be satisfied as long <br>
as the Negro is the victim of the <br>
unspeakable horrors of police brutality. <br>
We can never be satisfied, <br>
as long as our bodies, <br>
heavy with the fatigue of travel, <br>
cannot gain lodging in the motels of the <br>
highways and the hotels of the cities. <br>
We cannot be satisfied as long as the <br>
Negro’s basic mobility is from a <br>
smaller ghetto to a larger one. <br>
We can never be satisfied as long <br>
as our children are stripped of their <br>
self-hood and robbed of their dignity <br>
by a sign stating: <br>
"For Whites Only." <br>
 
We cannot be satisfied as long as a <br>
Negro in Mississippi cannot vote <br>
and a Negro in New York believes <br>
he has nothing for which to vote. <br>
 
No, no, we are not satisfied, <br>
and we will not be satisfied until <br>
"justice rolls down like waters, <br>
and righteousness like a mighty stream." <br>
 
I am not unmindful that some of you <br>
have come here out of great trials and <br>
tribulations. Some of you have come fresh <br>
from narrow jail cells. <br>
And some of you have come from <br>
areas where your quest - <br>
quest for freedom, left you battered by <br>
the storms of persecution, and staggered <br>
by the winds of police brutality. <br>
You have been the veterans of creative suffering. <br>
Continue to work with the faith that <br>
unearned suffering is redemptive. <br>
Go back to Mississippi, <br>
go back to Alabama, <br>
go back to South Carolina, <br>
go back to Georgia, <br>
go back to Louisiana, <br>
go back to the slums and <br>
ghettos of our northern cities, <br>
knowing that somehow this situation <br>
can and will be changed.  <br>
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, <br>
I say to you today, my friends. <br>
 
And so even though we face the <br> 
difficulties of today and tomorrow, <br>
I still have a dream. <br>
It is a dream deeply roooted in the American dream. <br>
I have a dream that one day this nation <br>
will rise up and live out the true meaning <br>
of its creed: <br>
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, <br>
that all men are created equal." <br>
I have a dream <br>
that one day on the red hills of Georgia, <br>
the sons of former slaves and the sons <br>
of former slave owners will be able to sit <br>
down together at the table of brotherhood. <br>
I have a dream <br>
that one day even the state of Mississippi, <br>
a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, <br>
sweltering with the heat of oppression, <br>
will be transformed into an oasis of <br>
freedom and justice. <br>
I have a dream <br>
that my four little children will one day <br>
live in a nation where they <br>
will not be judged by the color of their skin, <br>
but by the content of their character.  <br>
I have a dream today! <br>
I have a dream <br>
that one day, down in Alabama, <br>
with its vicious racists, <br>
with its governor having his lips <br>
dripping with the words of <br>
"interposition" and "nullification" - <br>
one day right there in Alabama <br>
little black boys and black girls will be able <br>
to join hands with little white boys and <br>
white girls as sisters and brothers. <br>
I have a dream today! <br>
I have a dream <br>
that one day every valley shall be exalted, <br>
and every hill and mountain shall be made low, <br>
the rough places will be made plain, <br>
and the crooked places will be made straight; <br>
"and the glory of the Lord shall be <br>
revealed and all flesh shall see it together." <br>
This is our hope, <br>
and this is the faith that I <br>
go back to the South with. <br>
With this faith, we will be able to hew out <br>
of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. <br>
With this faith, <br>
we will be able to transform the jangling <br>
discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. <br>
With this faith, <br>
we will be able to work together, <br>
to pray together, to struggle together, <br>
to go to jail together, <br>
to stand up for freedom together, <br>
knowing that we will be free one day. <br>
And this will be the day - <br>
this will be the day when all of <br>
God's children will be able to <br>
sing with new meaning: <br>
My country 'tis of thee, <br>
sweet land of liberty, <br>
of thee I sing.  <br>
Land where my fathers died, <br>
land of the Pilgrim's pride,  <br>
From every mountainside, let freedom ring! <br>
And if America is to be a great nation, <br>
this must become true. <br>
And so let freedom ring from <br>
the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. <br>
Let freedom ring from the <br>
mighty mountains of New York. <br>
Let freedom ring from the <br>
heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. <br>
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped <br>
Rockies of Colorado. <br>
Let freedom ring from <br>
the curvaceous slopes of California. <br>
But not only that: <br>
Let freedom ring from <br>
Stone Mountain of Georgia. <br>
Let freedom ring from <br>
Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. <br>
Let freedom ring from every hill <br>
and molehill of Mississippi. <br>
From every mountainside, let freedom ring. <br>
And when this happens, <br>
when we allow freedom ring, <br>
when we let it ring from every village and <br>
every hamlet, from every state and every city, <br>
we will be able to speed up that day when <br>
all of God's children, <br>
black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, <br>
Protestants and Catholics, <br>
will be able to join hands and sing in the words <br>
of the old Negro spiritual: <br>
Free at last! Free at last! <br>
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! <br>


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