EDITORIAL
“/ have a dream... ”
At the forefront of the nonviolent civil rights move
ment was Martin Luther King. Jr., heading his battle with
dedication and determination,commitment and courage.
Justice and equality, and inspiring many to follow. The
following is an excerpt from his speech, delivered Aug.
28. HJ63. in Washington. DC:
“ ... i say to you today, my friends, so oven though wo
face the difficulties of today and tomorrow. 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 lx* self-evident: that all men an* created <*qua!.‘
I have a dream that one day. on the red hills of Geor
gia. sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave
owners will bo able to sit down together at the table of
brotherhood.
! have a dream that one day oven the state of Missis
sippi. a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will
lx* 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 that one day ‘every valley shall be
exalted, every hill and mountain shall bo made low. the
rough places will be made plains, and the crooked
places will bo made straight, and the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.*
This is our hope. 1'his is the faith that l go back to the
South with. With this faith wo will be able to how out of
the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith
wo will l>n able to transform the jangling discords of our
nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With
this faith wo will be able to work together, to stand up
for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one
day.
And this will bn the dav. This will Im> iho day when all
of God's children will be able lo sing with new moan
ing 'My country *tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee
I sing Land where my father died, land of the pilgrim's
pride, from every mountainside, lot freedom ring *
And if America is to bo a great nation this must
become true So let freedom ring from the prodigious
hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from tjje
mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from
the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
l-et freedom rind from the snowcapped Rockies of Col
orado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of
California! Hut not only that; let freedom ring from the
Stone Mountain of Georgia! let freedom ring from Look
out Mountain of Tennessee.
l-ot freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mis
sissippi. From every* mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom
to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every
hamlet, from every stato 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, wilt he able to join hands and sing in the
words of that old Negro spiritual. Free at last! Free at
last! Thank God almighty, wo are free at last!"’
Oregon Daily
Emerald
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■ COMMENTARY
Dr. King’s life history lesson
moiOi rofa
s the curtains were drawn
on the post-World War ii
JL JLeni in the United States i
new movement was brewing in
the South, Large numbers of
black Anwnuns were tieginning
to organize and collaborate for
social reform The slave revolts,
underground railroad and protest
organizations of earlier times
served as the impetus for what
would come to Ik* known as the
Cavil Rights Movement
The 1 USDs and 10ftOs emerged
under a veil of cxmfruntation, big
otry. and violence A savage tide
of violence ami oppression
through a land teeming with
hatred ami fear was unleashed in
1955 after a young boy. Kmmett
Till, w-as the victim of a brutal,
unpunished murder
Baton Rouge. Ixc was the set
ting for the first major civil rights
Little Blacks successfully inches
tratisi a mass boycott of the city's
segregated bus system. Authori
ties were forced to make conces
sions to the demands of the
movement because of the sheer
number and force of the people
involved. Many other bus boy
cotts. such as the famous one
Montgomery Ala . were inspired
and modeled by this effort
By 1957 the spirit of the move
ment turned to legal matters.
Although segregation of public
schools had been declared
unconstitutional by the Supreme
Court in 1954, Little Rock, Ark
was just beginning to desegregate
its public: school system in 1957.
In that same year, a Civil Rights
Commission was founded by the
government to investigate viola
tions of the 15th Amendment,
which provides for equal protec -
tion under the law for all citizens
of the United States
The non-violent, yet direct
actions of the movement did not
bring success without serious
backlash. As the new decade of
the 1960s unfolded, blacks turned
to the streets protesting peat e
fully under the direction of lead
ers like Martin Luther King |r
Jailing. mating, and murder of
such jmmi t'ful protesters erupted
into a series of riots in Watts, «
neighborhood in California.
Detroit, Newark. N.J . and Wash
ington, D.C. The predawn mur
der of Him k Panther leaders in
their sleep bv federal law* officers
in Chicago in the 1060s dearly
showed the great lengths to
which racist factions of society
would go to prevent black iilmr
ation.
Birmingham would be the
1963 site for a demonstration that
led to the unleashing of dogs on
the crowd of protesters Violence
was becoming all too prevalent
by the offii era lining the move
ment's demonstrations
Martin Luther King jr emerged
ns the focused, pacifist lender for
the Civil Rights Movement in
America. Hv 1 did he had found
ed the Southern Christian Lead
ership Conference to further
desegregation nationally and end
poverty. He led a massive march
on the nation's capital in 1963,
opposed the Vietnam War and
pushed hard for tin? liberation of
his people
King, a native of Atlanta,
entered Morehouse Collide at the
age of 15 under a special program
for gifted students. He received
bachelor's degree in 1948
In his senior year. King decid
ed to enter the ministry During
his studies he became acquaint
ed with the writings ami works
of Mohandas Gandhi's philoso
phy of non-violence He studied
theology at Crozer Theological
Seminary in Chester, Pa. After
graduating at the top of his class
from Corzer, King earned his
Ph.l) from Boston University in
1955
King married Coretta Scott, a
native of Alabama, in 1953. The
couple had four children.
Trie 1955 bus boycott in Mont
gomery, Ala was King's intro
duction into the national spot
light when the Montgomery
Improvement Association chow
him as its leader From that time
on his idealism and dedication
to the Civil Rights Movement
never wavered
In his lirst speech to trio group
ho said, "We have no alternative
hut to protest. For many years
we have shown amazing
patience We have sometimes
given our white brothers the feel
ing that we liked the way we
were lieing treated Hut we come
here tonight to be saved from that
patience that makes us patient
with anything less than freedom
and justice.
As a result of the work of Dr
King and others like him Con
gress passed the strongest Civil
Rights legislations since the Civ
il War in 1964 It was established
laws mandating that equal rights
would bo granted for all citizens
in voting, education, public
accommodations and in consid
eration for programs that offer
federal assistance.
In December of DH>4 King was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
for his efforts in Oslo, Norway
'Hie final Civil Rights Act was
passed in 1968 guaranteeing
equal housing, and real estate
consideration to all.
Although the year brought sol
id change to the country, it was
accompanied by a horrific loss.
On April 4th, 1908 during a
sj>«*H.h from a hotel deck in Mem
phis, King was assassinated
Tin* work of Dr King was not
to lie forgotten, by the nation or
by tile world. In 1988 Congress
voted to observe a national hol
iday in his honor, on the third
Monday in January. However,
even decades after the Civil
Rights Movement began the slate
of Arizona refused observe the
King holiday.
The persistence, patience and
spirit of the Civil Rights Move
ment was absolutely vital to the
shedding of the network of
oppression which dominated the
United States in the {lost war era
With the guidance and memo
ry of a leader like King, we can
recognize that a pacifist agenda
for social reform is surely the
only way to bring about success
ful change.
Heidi Ford is a freelance writer
for the Emerald