LAD #26: Martin Luther King Jr. I Have a Dream

Summary: King addressed the masses of Civil Rights supporters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. 100 years had passed since the vicious battle of Antietam and ensuing proclamation by Lincoln that ensured the freedom of blacks. This promise would not come to fruition, as 100 years later, the man who was promised freedom would see none of it. King says to the crowd that they are in Washington to cash a check, a check guaranteed to all men living under the constitution and its guarantees. The constitution says that all men are created equal, yet when blacks try to cash their checks, it's always marked "insufficient funds"
King shows profound influence from Ghandi and Thoreau in civil disobedience when he tells the crowd that in pursuit of their ultimate goals, they should never be guilty of wrongful deeds. King commands that their more "creative protest" not degenerate into "physical violence". As can be seen from earlier railroad strikes, violence does nothing for a movement but lower credibility and public support. King wouldn't have it, supporting nonviolent acts such as sit ins and boycotts.
King tells his crowd of "the fiery urgency of now". Man must not be idle to achieve his ends. There is "no time to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism". If the black men and women stay content they will have a rude awakening when America returns to "business as usual".
King said elsewhere that "He who passively accepts evil is as much responsible for it as he who helps to perpetrate it".
His people will never be satisfied if the trends of hate continue and the heavy air of oppression hangs thick. They will never be satisfied while the white man unjustly polices them, segregates them and oppresses their voice.
King begins his famous "I have a dream" sequence, electrifying the crowd and telling them about his dreams for the future and dreams for his children. "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its crees: "We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi...will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that one my four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!"