The dream

I say to you today, my friends
I still have a dream.

I still have the dream

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 one day
even the state of Mississippi,
a state sweltering with the heat of injustice,
sweltering with the heat of oppression,
will be transformed into an oasis
of freedom and justice. 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.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day,
down in Alabama,
with its vicious racists,
with its governor having his lips
dripping with the words
of interposition and nullification;
one day right there 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.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day
every valley shall be exalted,
every hill and mountain shall be made low,
the rough places will be made plain,
and the crooked places will be made straight,
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope.
This is the faith
that I go back to the South with.
With this faith we will be able
to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith we will be able
to transform the jangling discords
of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

With this faith we will be able to work together,
to pray together,
to struggle together,
to go to jail together,
to stand up for freedom together,
knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children
will be able to sing with a new meaning,
"My country, 'tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrim's pride,
from every mountainside, let freedom ring."