SatCam
03-04-2007, 03:28 PM
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history
as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our
nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow
we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclaimation. This
momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of
slaves, who had been seared in the flames of whithering
injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of
their captivity. But one hundered years later, the colored
America is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of
the colored American is still sadly crippled by the manacle of
segregation and the chains of discrimination.
One hundred years later, the colored American lives on a lonely
island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material
prosperity. One hundred years later, the colored American 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 a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check.
When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent
words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence,
they were signing a promissory note to which every Anerican was
to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as
white men, would be guaranteed to 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 its colored
people a bad check, a check that 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 security of justice.
We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the
fierce urgency of Now. This is not time to engage in the luxury
of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.
Now it the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of
segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now it the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial
injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God's
children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the
moment and to underestimate the determination of it's colored
citizens. This sweltering summer of the colored people'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 colored Americans 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
colored citizen 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.
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 colored person's basic
mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of
their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for
white only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi
cannot vote and a colored person 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.
as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our
nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow
we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclaimation. This
momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of
slaves, who had been seared in the flames of whithering
injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of
their captivity. But one hundered years later, the colored
America is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of
the colored American is still sadly crippled by the manacle of
segregation and the chains of discrimination.
One hundred years later, the colored American lives on a lonely
island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material
prosperity. One hundred years later, the colored American 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 a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check.
When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent
words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence,
they were signing a promissory note to which every Anerican was
to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as
white men, would be guaranteed to 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 its colored
people a bad check, a check that 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 security of justice.
We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the
fierce urgency of Now. This is not time to engage in the luxury
of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.
Now it the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of
segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now it the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial
injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God's
children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the
moment and to underestimate the determination of it's colored
citizens. This sweltering summer of the colored people'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 colored Americans 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
colored citizen 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.
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 colored person's basic
mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of
their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for
white only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi
cannot vote and a colored person 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.