Why do I exist .-.

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"I HAVE A DREAM ..." (Copyright 1963, MARTIN LtrTHER KING, JR.) Speooh by the Rev. MARTIN LuTHER KING At the "March on vYashington" I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greates•t demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five ~core years ago a great American in whose symholic shado·w we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momen:tous cleeree is a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slave·s who had been ~e.arrd in the flames o[ withering injushcc. It came as a joyous daybre,ak to end the long night of their captivity. But 100 years late.rial prospc·rity. Out> hundred years later the egro is still larugui~hed iu the comer~s o.f Ame·rican ~oci. ety and find;:; himself in exile in his own land. So wo '''<' come hf'rP torlay to r1r.amatize a s,hameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a eheck. Whrn the a. reb it ects of our Re:publie wrote the magnificent. wonls of the Constitution a.nd the Declaration o1 Independence, they we·re signing· a promiss'Clr citi7.ens of co.Jo,r arr concP:rned. Instead of 2 honoring ih1s sacn'd ohli,gation, America ha.s given the Nngro p0ople a bad check, a check which has come back marked ''insufficient fn nds.'' But we refus.e to helieve that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We rp.fnse to belie\·~~ t.ha.t there are insufficient fuwls in the grea.t vaults of opportunity orf this nation. So we've come to cash this check, a check that will give ns upon oemand the rirhes of freedom and the s·ecurity of justice. \Ve haYe a.bo come to this hallowed spot to remind Ame.rica of the fipJ·ce urgency of now. 'l'hi:-; is no time to l'llgagc in the luxury of cooling off or to t.ake the tranquilizing dmg of graduali::;m. Now is the time to make real the promi~r·s of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark nnll clrsolate valley of segregation to the ,.unlit path of racial justi<·P. Now is the time to li.ft our uation from the quicksands of raeial injustice to the solid r()ek of brotherhood. Xow is t.he time to mak0 justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This swelt.ering summer of the i\eg:ro's legitimate disconte.nt. will not pass until there is .an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality -1963 is not an (md but a beginning. Tho>se who hope that tl1e X egro needed to hlow off steam and will now be l'Olltent will ha\·e a ruoP awakening if the na:tion return1'1 to bu,;ine~;.; as usua.I. 'l'here will be 11eitht'T rest nor tranquility in Ame.rica until the Negro i~ granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of onr nation until the bright days of justice emerge. (Copyright 101i3, MARTI:-< Lt:THFR KIKc , JR.) 3 And that is something that I mus.t say to my pBople who ~tand o.n the worn threshold whieh leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not he guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not "eek to sati:sfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of biMe·n:le·s,s a.nd hatred. \Ve must forever conduct our s.truggle on the high plane of dignity and diseiplin e. \Ye must not allow our creative protests to degen e·rate into physical violence. Again and again we must ri se to the maje,stic heights of meding physical fo.rce wi.th soul for-ce. rl'he marvelous new militancy whi-ch has cn.gulfE>d the Negro community must not lead us to distrust all white people, for many o[ our white hrotlwrs, as evidcncc•J by the·ir prese.nce here today, have eome to realize tha.t their destiny is tied up with our de~tiny. They have come to re.alize that their freedom is inextt·ieably hound t.o o~1r fre.room. \\'e cannot walk alone. And as we walk we must make the pledge hat we shall always march ahcarl We cannot turn hack. There are those who are .asking the rlevotee·s of civil rights, "When will you be sa.t.isfied 1'' \Ve can never be satisfied as ll't.y, of thee I ~ing. Land where my fathers died, land of th<.' pilgrim 's pride, from every mountain side, let. fr eedom ring.'' And if America is to he a. great nation , this mn::..t become true. So let freedom ring from tlH' prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New (Copyright 1963, MARTIN LunrER KING , JR.) 6 York. Let freooom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from t.hB snowcapped Rookies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaeeous s.lopes 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 molehill of M~ssissippi, from every mountain side. Let freedom ring . . . When we allow freedom to ring-when we let it ring from every city and eYery hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all (If God's children, black men and white men, Jews and G(>.nt.iles, Prot.B.stants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the word·s of the old Negro spiritual, "FI'ee at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, "\Ve are free at la.st." (Copyright 1963, MARTIN LuTHER KING, JR.) 
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