Introduction
Change" is a word you've been hearing a lot recently. During the 2008 presidential campaign, president-elect Barack Obama built his
message around the "ability to bring about real change in Washington." You might even hear the word change when people talk about the environment. With concerns over the potentialdangers of global warming, many people are worried about food shortages, rising gas prices and the possibility of
reaching peak oil. Citizens are informed by video clips and photographs illustrating examples of climate change and its effects on humanity.
Much of our awareness about various issues wouldn't be possible without technology such as telephones, television, newspapers and, especially now, the Web. We're able to pass information back and forth quickly, and more and more people around
the world can take that information in and act on it. These highly connected networks have led to things like smart mobs, groups of protestors
that use current technology like camcorders, BlackBerry devices and Twitter to take part in civil disobedience.
Fifty years ago, U.S. citizens managed to achieve remarkable change through a tremendous network of communication and
support. Despite hundreds of years of oppressive laws and violence against blacks, a single generation was able to
influence important legislation and adjust entire attitudes of a prejudiced culture -- and they didn't have the
Internet. During the 1950s and '60s, people of all races took part in the civil rights movement, an era that
changed the course of American history.
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
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.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.
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.
message around the "ability to bring about real change in Washington." You might even hear the word change when people talk about the environment. With concerns over the potentialdangers of global warming, many people are worried about food shortages, rising gas prices and the possibility of
reaching peak oil. Citizens are informed by video clips and photographs illustrating examples of climate change and its effects on humanity.
Much of our awareness about various issues wouldn't be possible without technology such as telephones, television, newspapers and, especially now, the Web. We're able to pass information back and forth quickly, and more and more people around
the world can take that information in and act on it. These highly connected networks have led to things like smart mobs, groups of protestors
that use current technology like camcorders, BlackBerry devices and Twitter to take part in civil disobedience.
Fifty years ago, U.S. citizens managed to achieve remarkable change through a tremendous network of communication and
support. Despite hundreds of years of oppressive laws and violence against blacks, a single generation was able to
influence important legislation and adjust entire attitudes of a prejudiced culture -- and they didn't have the
Internet. During the 1950s and '60s, people of all races took part in the civil rights movement, an era that
changed the course of American history.
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
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.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.
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.