Portland observer., January 15, 2014, 2014 special edition, Page 41, Image 41

January IS, 2014
L
M a r t in L u t h e r K in g J r ,
Page 41
2014 s p e c ia l e o i I ion
Speech
Martin Luther King Jr.
pass until there is an invigorating autumn of
freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is
not an end, but a beginning. And those who
hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam
and will now be content will have a rude
awakening if the nation returns to business as
usual. And there will be neither rest nor tran­
quility in America until the Negro is granted his
citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt
will continue to shake the foundations of our
nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my
people, who stand on the warm threshold which
leads into the palace of justice: In the process of
gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty
of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our
thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of
bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct
our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
discipline. We must not allow our creative protest
to degenerate into physical violence. Again and
again, we must rise to the majestic heights of
meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has en­
gulfed the Negro community must not lead us to
a distrust of all white people, for many of our
white brothers, as evidenced by their presence
here today, have come to realize that their destiny
is tied up with our destiny. And they have come
to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound
to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that
we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees o f civil rights,
"When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long
as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police
brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy
with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels o f the
highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as
long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a
larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are
stripped of their self-hood and robbed o f their dignity by signs
stating: "For W hites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a
Negro in M ississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York
believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not
satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like
waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream ."1
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great
trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail
cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest —
quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and
staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans
of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned
suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama,
go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana,
go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that
somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my
friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomor­
row, 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 slave owners will be able to
sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
continued
on page 42
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The ultimate measure o f a man is
not where he stands in moments
o f comfort, but where he stands at
times o f challenge and controversy?
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
RON