[16056] in APO-L
happy birthday
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John Grossi)
Mon Jan 20 07:13:35 1997
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 07:08:46 EST
Reply-To: John Grossi <jgrossi@MU.BBN.COM>
From: John Grossi <jgrossi@MU.BBN.COM>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
In the spirit of today...
-John
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we
stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree
came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who
had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a
joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the
Negro 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 an appalling condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When
the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the
Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a
promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note
was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable 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 the Negro people a bad check
--- a check which 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 the
security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to
remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no 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 promises of
democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley
of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time
to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the
time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the
solid rock of brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment
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. Nineteen
sixty-three is not an 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 will continue to
shake the foundation 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 palace 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 dignity and
discipline. Again and again we must rise to the majestic 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, as evidenced by
their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is
tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to
our freedom. We can not walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We
cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of
civil rights, "when will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied
as long as the Negro is the victim of unspeakable horrors of police
brutality. 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 Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger
one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi
cannot vote and a Negro 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.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials
and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells.
Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you
battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of
police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering.
Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina,
go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and
ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation
can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and
frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply
rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the
true meaning of its creed --- "We hold these these truths to be self
evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of
former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit
down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert
state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be
transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by
the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's
lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and
nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black
boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys
and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill
and mountain shall be made low, and rough places will be made plains,
and the crooked places will be made straight,and the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the south.
With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair
a stone of hope. With this faith 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 jail together, to stand
up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing
with a 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 come 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 peaks of California.
But not only that --- let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in 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.
When we let 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!"
