LAD #26

LAD #26 MLK "I have a dream" speech

One hundred years ago Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope.  But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free.  The Negro is crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.  The Negro lives in poverty in a vast ocean of material prosperity. 

In a sense we have come to our nations capital to cash a check.  America has given the Negro a bad check.  But we refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of the nation.

We have also come to remind America of the urgency of Now.  Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.  It would be fatal to overlook this. 

We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into violence.  We will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream".

Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.  I have a dream that one day my children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. 

Let Freedom Ring ! 

And when this happens, all God's children will be able to join hands and sing "Free at last, Free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last".

Photo#2: Chinese immigrants to the United States were also considered second class citizens, often not receiving the full benefits that they should have.