January 17, 2005

A day to celebrate Martin Luther King and the power of Creative Militancy
by Liza Sabater

Martin Luther King had a very special place in our home. My father always had a picture of him hanging around the house, as if he were part of the family. Papi would always talk about the trials and tribulations suffered during the Jim Crow era but also of the energy, the optimism that permeated the time and of the creative actions that came out of that during the Civil Rights Movement. A lot of times my parents would say they owed their marriage to the movement and to Martin Luther King. That's why Let freedom Ring has a special place in my heart. I've been listening to this speech almost since the day I was born (my father used to have an audio reel) and it still brings tears to my eyes.

Download and listen Let Freedom Ring (the actual name of the "I Have A Dream" speech). Let your spirit be stirred and called to action :

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of colour are concerned. Instead of honouring this sacred obligation, America has given the negro people a bad cheque which has come back marked "insufficient funds". But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this cheque - a cheque that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquillising drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. 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. There will be neither rest nor tranquillity 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.

It is the perfect speech because it is not a speech. This is a prose poem and one of the best of the 20th century.

Also :
American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr. - "I Have a Dream"

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | I have a dream

BONUS :
Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Bush thinks his re-election is a ratification of the carnage happening in Iraq? This song is as prescient now as it was during the Vietnam War.

Posted by Liza Sabater in Activism, Civil Rights, History
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Found inJanuary 20, 2005 02:40 PM

Say it loud, say it proud!