To day we honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., King’s fight for human rights and his legacy was left for all children regardless of race, religion or color. The fight he led for civil rights in the United States was, and still is, an inspiration for all who have, or are, oppressed around the globe. The protection of the equal rights of every man, woman and child across the globe are still being fought for on a daily basis, as the fight for equal rights, freedom from modern slavery, poverty, gender based discrimination and violence continue to plague our world community. However today’s fight for human rights is rooted in the hard work of so many in the civil rights movement, such as Dr. King, and though decades have passed his words still inspire nations.
On the 28th of August 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, at the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington D.C. during the famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom by the ‘Big Six’ ( Roy Wilkins from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Whitney Young, National Urban League; A. Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; John Lewis, SNCC; and James L. Farmer, Jr. of the Congress of Racial Equality).
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.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
…I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
In his speech Dr. King expressed his hope and dream that every man, woman and child would be equal that we would one day no longer see the color of ones skin, note ones religion, and truly be equal. We have come along way since he stood in awe of the masses before him, but often those words are unheard, or misheard, so let us take this day to remember there true meaning;
And when this happens, 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!
