On this day the U.S. has set aside to recall and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his vision and leadership of the civil rights movement, our weekly staff meeting included watching Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech" from August 28, 1963. No matter how many times I've seen this speech, it never fails to inspire me. It never fails to remind me how far we've come as a nation -- yet how long the journey is before us.
"When we let (freedom) 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!"
Comments (1)
When Dr. King gave this speech, I was just 14, growing up in a totally segregated small town in VA, next door to Prince Edward County which was a party to Brown vs. Topeka and had closed its public schools rather than integrate. I remember the speech giving me a sense of hope that was a light in the murk of hate and fear that prevailed then - our town saw marches by the Ku Klux Klan more than once. The speech is still a beacon of hope.
Posted by Bill Hudgins | January 21, 2008 11:46 AM
Posted on January 21, 2008 11:46