The Day of the Dreamer

Today, the third Monday of January in the US, is a federal holiday to commemorate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   Dr. King was a clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the US African-American civil rights movement.  He was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the American civil rights movement.  Unfortunately, his commitment to nonviolence did not prevent his meeting the same violent fate as another twentieth-century advocate of nonviolent activism, Mohandas Karamchand ("Mahatma") Ghandi.  Both Ghandi and King fell victim to assassin's bullets.

It was in the summer of 1963 that the "Big Six" of civil rights movements organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was attended by more than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities.  Dr. King represented the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).  His 17-minute speech "I Have a Dream" electrified the crowd.  It is regarded as one of the finest speeches in American historical oratory.  The full version of the speech can be seen here.  Key excerpts include the following.

"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 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 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 a table of brotherhood."

"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."

The March on Washington, and especially King's speech, helped to move civil rights to the forefront of the liberal political agenda and ultimately led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

In the summer of 1963, I was about as far from Washington in mind and spirit as I could be.  I was very narrowly focused on taking classes and working part-time in Montana so that I could complete my undergraduate course of studies in three, rather than four, years.  In November of 1963, I was appalled when an assassin's bullets killed my youthful President John F. Kennedy, who had inspired me and others of my generation to ask what we could do for our country.   In some small measure of response, after receiving my BA degree, I entered the Peace Corps in June 1964.  It was during a two-month preparatory training course at Princeton University in New Jersey that I heard a firsthand account of the March on Washington from Dr. King's colleague Bayard Rustin, who had been the primary logistical and strategic organizer of the march.

Mr. Rustin mesmerized all of us.  It was clear that we were in the presence of an inspired, inspiring and dedicated man.  I like to believe that even though I had missed the march altogether, I was from then on taking part in it, in its spirit and its goals.  I can only imagine how proud both King and Rustin would have been to see an honorable and admirable American born of a black African father and a white American mother, with a lovely African-American wife and two beautiful African-American daughters, in the White House today.

It takes dreamers to ask the questions, to inspire the rest of us.  But it takes ALL of us to act.  Thank you, Dr. King, for inspiring us and reminding us that it is up to us to BE the change that we would like to see in the world.