LAD #26: Martin Luther King Jr.

    Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech is one of the most well known speeches ever given. In it he describes his dream for racial equality for all those who reside within the United States and that he and the his movement would not stop until the people were given complete and utter racial equality where they could attain the rights promised them by the Constitution (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness). He begins his speech by declaring that the first significant move toward racial equality began when the slaves were freed under the Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Since then however, there has been no forward progress at all which King attributes to the lack of freedom of the negro people due to segregation and discrimination. He states that due to those factors the negro people are forced to live in poverty, exiled in their own land. King digs further into America's history citing that since its foundation America was designed that ALL men be equal as stated in the Constitution, but since then they have written the negro people a bad check entitled insufficient funds. Refusing to believe that the Bank of Justice is bankrupt King declares his speech as a way of trying to collect the check and now is the time for the american people to honor it and that he and his movement are not just letting off steam but are here to stay until their demands are met. In regard to his movement King urges that negroes keep thier protests peaceful and to do so without bitterness or hatred ofr whites as their freedom depends on each other. With that statement King calls for an end to the brutality on the part of the white people in regard to the discrimination, lack of sufferage, and the physical violence displayed toward negroes. King concludes his speech stating that his dream is rooted within the American Dream, that whites and blacks will be able to coexist peacefully and that people will be judged by their character and not the color of their skin. With this statement one of the most well known speeches of his era is drawn to a close forever immortalizing Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the best Civil Rights advocates in history.