Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King

Forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King was slain in Memphis. I am not going to pretend that I am an expert on Dr. King. And although I have heard this speech on TV or radio, it is one I would have liked to have witnessed. Dr. King was a true leader and visionary for racial equality and instilling dignity in every human being. But he wasn’t only words. He marched. He protested. He preached. He prayed. People marched and protested and preached and listened and prayed.

You can read the entire text at http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html.

Here is an excerpt with perhaps his better known words. I always get the chills when I hear this. Can’t you hear the expressions echoing into the air in his preacher-like manner?

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold 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 slave owners 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 state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of 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, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; 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 be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

He ends with…

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 curious to think what a man like this would have done had he not been stopped in his tracks before his time. People have worked hard to continue his legacy - his children, other leaders of our nation, secular and religious. It starts and ends with you, me, your next door neighbor, your aunt, your cousin, your children, your grandchildren. It is about respect and dignity. My point? Equality won’t stop the world’s problems, but it’s a start. It makes people understand that there is something bigger than themselves. Just take a moment and remember a great person in our history. I hope we have learned something from it.