I Still Have a Dream

Today in 1963, 200,000 people joined together for a civil rights rally on the steps of Lincoln Memorial and spilling out into the Washington Mall in the peaceful March on Washington. There Martin Luther King, Jr. gave perhaps one of the most recognized speeches of American history, “I Have a Dream.” He called for a time when equality in the U.S. would finally be a reality. We still struggle to meet that goal. King dreamt of a beautiful future:

“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 us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, 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 the table of brotherhood.

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.

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 today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls 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.”

And he ended his speech with the beautiful sentiment: “And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

While his wishes became the national message and understanding of the Civil Rights Movement, many others spoke that day. Another speaker, John Lewis, asked the protesters, “Where is our party? Where is the political party that will make it unnecessary to march on Washington?” The speakers and attendees disagreed on tactics and immediate goals. Some looked to King as a savior to their cause while others saw him as Uncle Tom. Either way, they all agreed that while Lincoln and the Radical Republicans had promised them equality in the 1860s, they had not yet received it. Now, the felt, equality should finally be theirs.

I cannot write about this historic and iconic event without mentioning what is happening on those same steps of the Lincoln Memorial today. As readers of this blog may know, Tea Party activist Glenn Beck is holding his Restoring America rally. Of course, he has the right to speak there, to hold a rally there. Glenn Beck has also used racist language and dared to call our president a racist – an outlandish and incendiary statement. Yet, he has began to co-opt the Civil Rights Movement into the Tea Party Movement. Using the language of an oppressed people, a people who had endured hundreds of years of inequality, violence, racism, and who continue to suffer today is disrespectful and wrong. In both respect to King and the thousands who stood with him and to his own party’s legacy (whatever that might be), today should be held in memory to a unique and powerful moment in the early 1960s.

(Here are some links to articles in today’s New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle discussing both the 1963 March on Washington and Beck’s rally: Glenn Beck’s Nightmare, America is Better Than This, Where Dr. King Stood, Tea Party Claims His Mantle, Thousands Hear Beck and Palin at Washington Rally, and Dueling Rallies in DC Mark King Speech Anniversary.)

LBJ’s Civil Rights Act

Today in 1964, Congress approved the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. The law essentially made it illegal to discriminate against any individual because of his/her race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment or service.

The act followed years of African Americans and white Americans working toward equality. It followed the Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka Kansas ruling that declared separate is inherently unequal. It followed the Mississippi Summer, filled with violence. It followed the Freedom Rides, when African Americans and whites attempted to ride the Greyhound buses into the South. It followed the violent riots in Birmingham that had been aired on televisions across the United States, allowing millions of Americans to witness for the first time the cruelty of racism in an undeniable way. It followed the 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. And it followed the assassination of JFK.

Many Civil Rights leaders had hoped that when JFK became president, he would work towards equality for all American (male) citizens. However,  foreign policy (specifically with Cuba) took precedent and left many African Americans disappointed. JFK, and his brother Bobby, tried to divert attention to voting rights (hoping that this would be a less controversial issue). However, it only intensified the poor relationship between the races. Then someone (Lee Harvey Oswald most likely) shot JFK and LBJ took the presidency.

LBJ has long been remembered for the Vietnam War. However, he changed the domestic face of the nation. He avidly supported Civil Rights and used the death of JFK to his advantage. He told the American people and Congress that this bill should be passed in honor of the slain president. JFK became a martyr for Civil Rights. And while the bill still had difficulty passing, including an 83-day filibuster, it passed and brought the nation one step closer to equality.