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? Free at last! Free at last! We cannot walk alone:
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? 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: And so, weve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice?
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a 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 they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom... Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York: And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
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... 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. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- 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 freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi:
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