In this critical hour, when freedom itself has been called into question by illegal acts of a despotic Presidency, I have a dream that America will not forget Martin Luther King.
King left many legacies, but one of the most significant is the indelible impression he made on August 28, 1963. Leading a massive march on Washington in support of civil rights, he asked us all as Americans to think bigger than the confines of our habits, our inaction, our willingness to accept what we have been told is so, and to not allow injustice to block self-evident truths.
In this landmark speech, King addressed not only supporters and fellow marchers, but Americans all over the country nervously watching this event unfold on television:
As the march was being planned, newscasters and papers were preparing for riots and fights. In the end, the peaceful outcome with so many in attendance was what amazed everyone.
We watched the “March On Washington” on TV, and recognized immediately the historical impact Dr King’s speech would have.
In this critical juncture of circumstance and leadership, King rallied the nation to dream a grand dream:
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true.
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 snowcapped 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 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!”
It is not hyperbole to say that in this speech, our mythic ideal, the American dream, reached its apex. Our hope that all people everywhere be free from oppresion and free to realize their magnificent potential. It’s a beautiful statement that never fails to emotionally provoke its listeners and tug at some unknowable imperative to action with in. With his speech, MLK transformed a nation. His vision was as revolutionary for some as it was a threat to others.
But history is a fickle friend of revolution. MLK’s vision of optimism and hope ended nightmarishly with his tragic assassination in 1968, swiftly followed by Bobby Kennedy’s murder, the escalation of the Vietnam War into a grueling and seemingly endless meat grinder, and Nixon’s election by an ominously close vote.
Gunned down by one of our own and lain in his blood, it was as if something died in America itself that day. And in the last 40 years what remains of his gift and his legacy has been squandered in empty platitudes by those who have failed to live up to his calls to action.
And our dreams for the future have faded into the abject moral failure towards which our leaders inexorably guide us: a nation without freedom. For civil rights cannot be conferred in a nation that has jettisoned its commitment to civil liberty.
What is our response to tyranny here at home, in our nation? Will we dare to dream, or will we assassinate our hope with apathy’s cruel knife?
Will we follow John F. Kennedy’s heeding when boldy declared in his 1961 inaugural address:
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shank from this responsibility – I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavour will light our country and all who serve it — and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Will we ask ourselves that in defense of freedom in this hour of maximum danger? Or will we instead listen to madmen:
As we work with Congress in the coming year to chart a new course in Iraq and strengthen our military to meet the challenges of the 21st century, we must also work together to achieve important goals for the American people here at home. This work begins with keeping our economy growing. … And I encourage you all to go shopping more.
(Don’t believe me? Watch the video)
I have a dream, but I wonder if we all dreaming In democracy’s twlight? As the reverie of night blends into the waking hours, I wonder what kind of America I will wake to. And I wonder when Americans will wake up
I have a dream, but in our leaders, stewards of democracy, we are lost. We’ve all read together the litany of evils and injustices that have been perpetrated in our names. We ignore our Founders’ exhortations to resist tyranny at our peril. Will we not heed history’s stark warning from one of tyranny’s worst perpetrators?
Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger
For now we are faced with a stark moral choice, to refuse authority for authority’s sake or give up our liberties because we are told we must. But when authority reigns without true representation and when our liberties are subordinated to the demands of a tyrant’s henchman, I wonder if we have allowed that choice to be made for us.
I wonder now for whom the bell tolls? For an America triumphant, weighed down from the flowers and chocolate our admirers rain upon us? Or for an America whose funeral ritual has begun and at whose sides vultures gather?
It seems like everywhere I go there are signs of America in decline. Take a drive around your community and notice what you see. In big cities, suburbs, and rural communities that dot our national landscape we all can see the signs of either overt signs of decay or shiny illusions whose insistence that everything is ok belies the emptiness that lurks at their core.
Is this the shiny, hand-rubbed luster of a succesful and vibrant nation? Or this the fading patina of a culture past its prime?
Each day brings more news that the decadence of our nation’s elite has reached new heights while the wholesale dismantling of our economy and our education, the backbones of our prosperity, continues unabated and deceitfully supported even by those in whom we place our trust.
When we take a moment to see the “big picture” we step back and see how everything comes together in clarity. To understand our country as a sum greater than it’s parts, is to know hope. And to know hope it to be able categoricallicay draw distinctions between collective choices that would enthrall us or to pursue opportunities for our liberation.
I have a dream. I have a dream that Americans will know that and act accordingly.
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Try not to leave this diary without at least revisiting our history: yours and mine, in this video recording of MLK’s speech. It’s about 18 minutes and a moment of history that must not be forgotten. Not now. When the essential quality of American freedom stands in such grave jeopardy.