Martin Luther King

Discourse of Martin Luther King
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our country.

One hundred years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been searedin the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, the black is still not free; hundred years later, black life is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination; hundred years later, the black lives on a lonely island in midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity hundred yearslater, the black is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

So we came here today to dramatize a shameful 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, signed a promissory note to whichevery American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color concerns. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come backmarked "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 country. So we have come to cash this check, a check to us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Americanow. This is not the time to have the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. 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 make justice a reality for all God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands ofracial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and not giving importance to the decision of the blacks. This sweltering summer's legitimate discontent of Blacks will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

1963 is not an end but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed toblow 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. But there's something I say to my people who stand on the warm thresholdwhich leads into the palace of justice. Must not be guilty of wrongful deeds in the process of getting the place that is rightfully ours. 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 andagain we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, because many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our and their freedom is inextricably bound to our. We can...