When the riots of 2020 erupted I sat my kids down and we watched this speech. I asked them to pick out 5 things from the speech that caught their attention and we would talk about them. I had forgotten just how great this speech was. We watch it every MLK day as a reminder
https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety
Below is some of the language in the speech that stood out to me given the events of that time, but it’s worth the entire read.
“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence…”
“We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”
“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.”
“…one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
”And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state 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, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.”
