On 18 Jan 2003 at 16:37, lezlielioness{at}bytewright.com wrote:

> Thank you. Lezlie
> 

Very Much.  Clayton


> 
> Martin Luther King, Jr's I have a Dream speech
> >
> >28 Aug 1963, at Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. 
> >
> >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 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 an appalling
> >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 would be guaranteed the inalienable 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 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 rise from the dark and desolate
> >valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is
> >the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children.
> >Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial
> >injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
> >
> >It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the
> >moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. 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.
> >
> >And 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 our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of
> >travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the
> >hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's
> >basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. 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
> >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 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, 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 one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of
> >former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit
> >down together at a table of brotherhood.
> >
> >I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a
> >desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and
> >oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and
> >justice.
> >
> >I have a dream that my four 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 the state of Alabama, whose
> >governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of
> >interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a
> >situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to
> >join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together
> >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 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 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 peaks 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 every molehill of
> >Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
> >
> >When we let 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!"
> >
> >=====
> >Fear of corrupting the mind of the younger generation is 
> >the loftiest of cowardice. --Holbrook Jackson
> >
> >From the Lair of Fang-Face DreamWeaver
> >and The Encyclopedia Michael Nellis
> >http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/dreamweaver/index.html
> >
> >__________________________________________________
> >Do you Yahoo!?
> >New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
> >http://sbc.yahoo.com
> 

               Albest,

                        Clayton

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