Freedom, equality, humanity, justice, love.

Hopes, Dreams, Visions, Love, Peace, Life.

Sean Gonsalves states it better than I can: alternet.org/story/46662

That we still have a long way to go as a country.

Community
Acceptance
Equality

That we celebrate greatness by taking the day off.  That leaders are all born on a Monday.

That we can be righteously indignant over injustice, and oppose evil, without losing our class, our dignity, and our kindness for one other.

I'm going to post his speech, just for the sake of reading it. I think it's the greatest speech in the world.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, 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 their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check --- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, 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 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."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, When we allow freedom to 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!"

MLK Jr means to me....don't part your car on this street overnight.

All the obvious

and also reminds me to stand up for what I believe in, and not let anyone get in my way!

ONE LOVE is the most prominent of what King was trying to tell us.

MLK Jr blvd means I'm in a bad neighborhood.

Dammit JT beat me to it. :-(

JT and Kam - you guys are fuckers.




For beating me to the punch.

banks are closed but i have to work

was anyone else disappointed by google's logo?
they're usually wittier than the one posted today

*thanks keane for posting the speech by the way

i take that back. something is better than nothing.
this is only the second time they made an mlk jr logo!
google.com/holidaylogos.…

Mona - I agree about the Google logo. Everyone knows Asian kids & white kids suck at Double Dutch.

double dutch? what's that?
my fingers were always too busy jumping around on my abacus!

Why don't they ever name it MLK street in the white part of town?  Plenty of streets in the black part of town are named after white people.

NPR had a very rare interview with MLK's personal attorney and advisor the other day, Clarence Jones.  It was absolutely fascinating.  Dr. King actually called for his inner circle to submit drafts for suggestion as to what his speech should consist of that day.  The "I Have a Dream" speech was Jones's suggestion, and he didn't know Dr. King was going to use it basically until he was standing at that podium.  He was just so interesting.  Here's the broadcast:

npr.org/templates/story/…

Jerry, i would have to disagree with your answer.  I believe historically naming streets after MLK Jr has been a way of pandering to the black vote, which for reasons people smarter than I could best explain is not found in white 'hoods.  I don't know is the street was bad beforehand or only went bad after.  I suspect if bad bh the thinking goes that people will show some respect for the 'hood. but that is all just speculation oon my part.

I suspect you're both right.

I also propose we not declare racism dead until every white town has a Martin Luther King street too.  There are other conditions but that's one of them.

And no dividing a single street in two by calling only the black part of it MLK.

This is the first time EVER I've gotten the day off work. My company is pretty cool for recognizing this as an important holiday.

MLK Jr means that to honor this great man, I participated in a day of service today
pulling invasive weeds at a local park that is the boat launch site of the first Japanese to be forced into internment. A memorial is under construction and National Park staus is pending.
Yo - these frostbitten toes are for you Dr. King

Common sense and common courtesy. Pretty simple concept many cannot seem to grasp

my life.  my existence.  every yelp review.  every word i speak.  my drivers license.  my last vote(s) in the election.  my sitting anywhere i please on the #38 (thank you to Ms. Parks for that one too).  my apartment.  my drinking out of any water fountain i damned well please.  my education.  my ability.  my car.  my future.  my wallet and the money in it.  my job.  my laptop.  my music.

it means just a day off to some, but it means a whole hell of a lot to others.

and.. for the record.. those of us who who are very existence to this man had to get their asses up and go to work.

oh... but i get President's day off?  gee... thanks. suckas.

pardon me "who owe are very existence"

crap.  "our"

Martin Luther King Jr. would be so ashamed of me right now. Coretta too...

No spell checking after 6PM....

Speaking of Google, I wonder why they've never posted a custom logo commemorating Veteran's Day (Nov. 11)?

Freedom, Equality, and Love...what the man was alll about!