Wednesday, August 28, 2013
17
"I Have a Dream" is a 17-minute public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered on August 28, 1963, in which he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination. The speech, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 200,000 civil rights supporters, the speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address. According to U.S. Representative John Lewis, who also spoke that day,
"Dr. King had the power, the ability, and the capacity to transform
those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a monumental area that will
forever be recognized. By speaking the way he did, he educated, he
inspired, he informed not just the people there, but people throughout
America and unborn generations."
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This was undoubtedly one of the most powerful speeches ever delivered. It has always been my favorite. I believe that we really need to revisit it and look closely at all of what it contains when it describes the dream. Yes, it acknowledges the wrongs being done because of institutionalized racism at the time. And yes, much of this is still going on, though not officially. And it also was very clear about the need for all people, regardless of race, to come together to solve this, and the need of all people, regardless of race, to act responsibly and civilly. A truly masterful speech.
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