[at-l] Martin Luther King Jr. Day

[Snodrog5@aol.com]

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 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 a 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 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, 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.

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 we 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 become 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 of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every 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!"
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 
28, 1963

Pardon the off topic post, fellow listers
Or is it?
TJ < dreamer
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