Today, on Martin Luther King Day, we celebrate because of the dreams of man! Dr. King died the year I was born, but his legacy continues on. Dr. Kings I have a dream speech is truly timeless, connecting him to so many of the great leaders in American history. Starting with Thomas Jefferson and the founders, they expressed a dream- utterly new in human history, when Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Because this vision came from mortal men, it sadly came with the tragic flaw of human slavery. The founders knew this and admitted it, but sadly, they didnt find a way to stop it at the time, which led us to the inevitable Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was prophetic in 1858, when he, borrowing a quote from the Book of Mark, gave his famous A House Divided speech that launched him into the arena of national debate. Lincoln stated: A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South. After four years of war and more than 600,000 dead, America emerged from the Civil War a house no longer divided- at least not in legal terms. However, in practice for most black Americans, we remained a nation divided. All too often divided by hate and segregation. Almost 100 years after LIncoln was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came into prominence- leading Americas 3rd revolution for freedom. In the mid 1950s, Dr. King began a peaceful revolution for equality for minorities- showing our nation the path leading us closer to the ideals expressed by our founders almost 200 years earlier- those of equality of man. Arguably, Dr. Kings most famous words came in his 1963 I have a dream speech when he spoke these words, describing his dream: 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. Today, let us celebrate the progress this nation has made to fulfilling the dreams of Jefferson, Lincoln and King. Its a journey without an end, but one always worth the effort!
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 18:16:05 +0000
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