Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream Speech
50 years ago today Martin Luther King Jr stood in our nation's capital and delivered a speech to 250,000 people. The I Have a Dream Speech. The speech that captured an entire movement in one speech given by one man. In his speech, he said, "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.'"
The Civil Rights Movement was a long overdue effort to gain the same rights and freedoms for a repressed people that white America enjoyed: the right to vote, the right to eat in any restaurant, the right to sit anywhere on a bus, the right to walk down the street unmolested, the right to go to school, the right to run for office.
There is little doubt that we have made progress as a society, but there is still an enormous amount of work to be done. As long as there are people living on reservations in dire poverty, as long as there are people being spit on in the streets because of their skin color, as long as there are people who are beaten to death because of their sexuality, as long as there are people who are not welcome in all environments because they have a special need, as long as their are derogatory epithets being tossed around as a joke, as long as people are not free to marry because of who they love be it same sex, different color, different religion, or for any other reason, as long as there is someone being stepped on simply because they are different, we still have work to do.
What are we so afraid of? Skin color doesn't dictate our humanness. Religion doesn't dictate our humanness. Sexual preference doesn't dictate our humanness. IQ doesn't dictate our humanness. Gender doesn't dictate our humanness. How we treat people deep down on the inside dictates our humanness.
Commit to treating everyone with deep respect and dignity. Commit to loving everyone, especially those that are different. Remember that those who are different from you can and will teach you something. Learn from it. Embrace it. Flaunt your new knowledge. Don't run in fear. Don't board up your windows. And above all don't spread the already dry rumors that perpetuate stereotypes and fear. Let's educate ourselves and understand that we share the planet with a diverse population. And we all have something to contribute. Let's not make our legacy one of hatred, one of intolerance, and one of ignorance. Let's make our legacy one of love, one of education and one that embraces all races, cultures, genders, ethnic groups, and belief systems.
The Civil Rights Movement was a long overdue effort to gain the same rights and freedoms for a repressed people that white America enjoyed: the right to vote, the right to eat in any restaurant, the right to sit anywhere on a bus, the right to walk down the street unmolested, the right to go to school, the right to run for office.
There is little doubt that we have made progress as a society, but there is still an enormous amount of work to be done. As long as there are people living on reservations in dire poverty, as long as there are people being spit on in the streets because of their skin color, as long as there are people who are beaten to death because of their sexuality, as long as there are people who are not welcome in all environments because they have a special need, as long as their are derogatory epithets being tossed around as a joke, as long as people are not free to marry because of who they love be it same sex, different color, different religion, or for any other reason, as long as there is someone being stepped on simply because they are different, we still have work to do.
What are we so afraid of? Skin color doesn't dictate our humanness. Religion doesn't dictate our humanness. Sexual preference doesn't dictate our humanness. IQ doesn't dictate our humanness. Gender doesn't dictate our humanness. How we treat people deep down on the inside dictates our humanness.
Commit to treating everyone with deep respect and dignity. Commit to loving everyone, especially those that are different. Remember that those who are different from you can and will teach you something. Learn from it. Embrace it. Flaunt your new knowledge. Don't run in fear. Don't board up your windows. And above all don't spread the already dry rumors that perpetuate stereotypes and fear. Let's educate ourselves and understand that we share the planet with a diverse population. And we all have something to contribute. Let's not make our legacy one of hatred, one of intolerance, and one of ignorance. Let's make our legacy one of love, one of education and one that embraces all races, cultures, genders, ethnic groups, and belief systems.
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