COMMENTARY: King's speech still rings true

It was August 1963.

JFK was president and America still believed in Camelot.

In Washington, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and hundreds of his supporters marched to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
There, in the shadow of Lincoln, King reshaped American’s civil rights debate with a single speech.

In just a few minutes, he spoke eloquently of the need for peace, and brotherhood.

He spoke of the dream of equality which is found the hearts of all good men.

Kennedy would be assassinated in November.

Dr. King would be killed by James Earl Ray in 1968.

But his speech, that wonderful essay on hope, trust and equality, lives on. Forty years later, King’s evangelical call still rings in our ears:

“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...”

Our country has come a long way since Dr. King spoke in Washington, D.C. We have, in some ways, become better stewards of the good doctor’s legacy. Yet, King’s dream remains, still, a dream.

The truth is in America, not all men are seen as equal.

In our country, hatred and bigotry remain.

And, in many places, thousands still struggle for simple equality.

But King’s dream lives on.

And for those who choose to hear and live those famous words, they desire to make their country a better place burns deep.

Perhaps this year, our leaders will remember Dr. King’s dream and, once again, fight to make it a reality.

The directions are there.

The road lies before us.

We simply need to continue the journey.