我有一个梦(I have dream)(3)

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 slave owners 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.