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MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2007 Jefferson City, Mo. B3

PERSPECTIVE
Excerpts from
1 Have a Dream'
EDITOR'S NOTE: Editors appreciate lan-
guage that is eloquent, passionate and per-
suasive. In observance of the Martin Luther
King holiday, we reprint excerp.ts from one of
the greatest speeches ever written. King deliv-
ered his "I Have A Dream" address on Aug.
28,1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Wash-
ington, D.C. • in volunteering should contact the
Five score years ago, a great American, in
whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed
the Emancipation Proclamation. This
momentous decree came as a great beacon
light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who
had been seared in the flames of withering
injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to
end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must
face the tragic fact that the Negro is still lan-
guishing in the corners of American society
and finds himself an exile in his own land.
So we have come here today to dramatize
an appalling condition.
I say to you today, my friends, that in
spite of the difficulties and frustrations of
the moment I still have a dream. It is a
dream deeply rooted in the American
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 my four little chil-
dren 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.
1 have a dream that one day every valley
shall be exalted, every hill and mountain
shall be made low, and rough places will be
made plains, 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 with
which I return to the south. 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 dis-
cords of our nation into a beautiful sym-
phony of brotherhood. With this faith we
will be able to work together, to pray togeth-
er, 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 niy
fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride,
from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
When we let freedom ring, when we let it
ring from every village and every hamlet,
from every slate 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!
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COMMENTARY
Decades later, message lifts hearts, minds
By Jay Bookman wise. tion that most of us yearn to be better than we
But I do remember that as the speech went on, are, that there is transforming power in appealing
Cox News Service
some of the black members of the audience to what Abraham Lincoln called "the better
ATLANTA — I played a lot of baseball growing began to break in with spirited cries of 'Amen" angels of our nature."
up, but early on it was clear that 1 was never going and "Tell it!" 1 have been in the audience many Like Lincoln, King challenged us to listen to
to be standing in the batter's box at Yankee Stadi- times when that happened, but 1 had never expe- those better angels, to live up to the lofty ideals
um, where Babe Ruth once stood armed with his rienced it in the role of speaker, and at first it that we claim to honor as a nation and as individ-
threw me. They don't do that in the churches I uals.
Louisville Slugger.
And today, even though Imake a living putting grew up in. He understood that violence only begets vio-
Gradually, though, 1 caught the rhythm of il, lence; that political violence overwhelms whatev-
words together, I'm never going to scroll a clean
sheet of white paper into William Faulkner's feeling when the outbursts would come and giv- er message it might try lo communicate. Violence
ing the audience space hardens the heart and short-circuits the workings
Underwood typewriter,
sit down at his desk and to speak its piece. And of the mind.
start pecking out the
I also understood, at a gut level, for the first time, I began i3ut as King also understood, Ihe sight of non-
Great American Novel. the rhythm that you can hear even to understand the real violent resistance can stir the sympathy and fire
But hey, that's OK. in silent readings of King's ser- .power of that tradition
in the black church, how
the conscience in all but the most hard-hearted.
In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, King spoke
Because last year,
something even better mons and letters. The cadence is the speaker can reach of his "abiding faith in America and an audacious
happened when I was there on the printed page just as out to the congregation faith in the future of mankind." That faith was
invited to speak at the clearly as you hear it in those old and the congregation in rooted in King's Christian religion, which he firsl
old Ebenezer Baptist turn lifts up the speaker, experienced and which reached full flower at
Church in Atlanta, the recordings — it was ingrained in until congregation and Ebenezer Baptist. He would talk often of loving
place where Dr. Martin pastor are urging the his enemies, even ihose he didn't happen to like
Luther King Jr. served as
his thinking. other on to something very much.
co-pastor. — —— higher and better. Once, King was asked in an interview what
Standing at the same pulpit where King had I also understood, at a gut level, the rhythm opponent he would like lo strand on a desert isle.
stood and preached, looking out as he had at the that you can hear even in silent readings of King's King playfully suggested U.S. Sen. Barry Gold-
simple, old-fashioned church with its wooden sermons and letters. The cadence is there on the water, the 196'1 Republican presidential candi-
pews and low-slung balcony — well, you can printed page just as clearly as you hear it in those date who campaigned in defense of segregation,
have Yankee Stadium. That was pretty cool. old recordings — il was ingrained in his thinking. calling King a commie and a traitor.
Ebenezer Baptist, where King's father and Heroes are usually an artifact of childhood; the "I hope they'd feed him and everything, of
grandfather had also preached, is now part of the further we march into adulthood, ihe less likely course," King joked. "I am nonviolent, you know."
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, we arc lo find olhers worthy of our admiration. By 1993, King had been dead for a quarter cen-
which includes King's birth home and grave site. But in King's case, time has burnished my respect tury, and Goldwaier was long retired from poli-
King was baptized in the church, and his funeral for the man. tics. But (hat year, Goldwaterlistened to his belter
was held there after his assassination in 1968. King was certainly flawed in his personal life, angels and helped lead the fight in his native Ari-
Even with all thai history, though, I can't claim and he was acutely aware of those shortcomings. zona lo create a holiday in King's memory.
that speaking from King's pulpit inspired great He understood thai evil cxisls, within each of us For some, it just takes longer than others.
eloquence on my part — I can't, because too individually and as a force in human history. E-mail:
many people were there who could testify olhcr- Bui ihe core of King's genius was his recogni- jbookman@ajc.com

Martin Luther King's words still ring true

By Star Parker
Scripps Howard News Service
The characteristic of greatness —
whether we are talking about a great
man or greal art — is that it transcends
time and place. It dips into thai which
is universally and elernally Irue and
applies ihose truths to a particular
momenl and a particular place.
Re-reading, after many reads, Dr.
Martin Luther King's words of Aug. 28,
1963, the famous "1 Have a Dream"
speech, his greatness rings clearer
than ever.
Because King did indeed touch (he
heavens on that day and pull down
kernels of eternal truths about free-
dom and the condition of man, those
words of 40-plus years ago have rele-
vance to our struggles today. They can
serve as guidance in these difficult
times.
Am I saying lhal King's message
from 1963 can guide us in today's
' conundrums — about our embroil-
ment in Iraq, about the Middle East,
about America's role in the world? Yes,
I am saying this.
The power of King's message, the
unquestionable reason that the move-
ment he led was successful, was his
appeal to the truth of freedom and its
universal applicability to all men.
By identifying and appealing lo the
freedom of man as a universal and
eternal truth, and going on to make
clear that this truth defined what this
great country is about, then King's
conclusion — ihe imolerability of con-
ditions that denied any American full
participation in this freedom — could
not be denied.
Beyond this central message, King
made other very important points in
this speech.
One of key importance was that
responsibility for solving a problem
does not necessarily imply direct
responsibility in having caused that
problem.
Although the responsibility clearly
was in the hands of those Americans
with power, overwhelmingly white
Americans, to fix the problems in the
country that limited the availability of
freedom to all, this did not mean that
all those same Americans were racists
or had caused the problem to begin
with.
The responsibility for fixing these
problems came, rather, with being the
beneficiaries of a country whose des-
tiny and identity was fundamentally
linked with the enterprise of freedom.
In King's words, white Americans
"have come to realize that their desliny
is lied up with our desliny and they
have come to realize that their free-
dom is inextricably bound to our free-
dom."
He appealed to blacks not lo allow
suffering lo Iranslale inlo billerness
nor inlo calegorical hate of while
Americans. "Let us not seek to satisfy
our thirsl for freedom by drinking from
the cup of bitterness and hatred."
Instead, King exhorted black Amer-
icans to "Continue to work with the
faith that unearned suffering is
redemptive."
So Dr. King accomplished a lot of
business lhat August day in 1963.
He recognized the universal trtilh of
human ^iberly. He recognized our
counlry as a unique vessel of lhal
iruth. He appealed lo Americans vvilh
power to assume (heir responsibilities
as the beneficiaries of liberty to make
this a better and freer country. And he
appealed lo black Americans to
assume a different kind of responsibil-
ity — lo not allow themselves to be
destroyed by unearned suffering but to
be redeemed by it.
The prophet is a lonely man
because he brings a message'that peo-
ple do not want to hear.
Dr. King's activism was not wel-
comed by mosl whiles and a good
many blacks.
There is natural appeal in the iner-
tia of the status quo. Change and
assumption of new responsibilities
and challenges are welcomed by few.
Turmoil tells us that something is
wrong and we have no choice but to
open our eyes and ears and assume the
responsibililics that are cast upon us.
I am, of course, not a military tacti-
cian and am in no position to specu-
late about how best to use American
iroops lo midwife a porlion of the
world that clearly needs help in
becoming more modern, more civil
and freer.
However, 1 can say, that 1 am in
complete sympathy with our president
who senses thai America has a unique
and special role lo play in this world.
We cannot shirk responsibililics lhat
are clearly ours.
I cannot help but think that it is not
an accident thai the United States
stands so alone, despite many other
nations thai claim to have similar
commitments to and stakes in civility
and liberty. The way they act makes
clear that they don't.
The truths that Dr. King articulated
in so crystal clear a way in 1963 contin-
ue to resound today. Freedom is what
this country is about. We have no
choice. It is our heritage. We thrive and
prosper from it. And we cannot avoid
the responsibilities that come with it in
our engagement with the rest of the
world.
Star Parker is president of CURE,
Coalition on Urban Renewal and Edu-
cation (www.urbancure.org) and
author of "White Ghetto: How Middle
Class America Reflects Inner City
Decay."