Hope and aspirations

five score years ago a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the emancipation proclamation.This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.it came as a joyous day break to end the long night of captivity.But one hundred years later we must face the tragic fact tha the negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination one hundred laters the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of of merican society and finds himself an exile in his own land .So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation‘s capital to cash acheque. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the constitution and the Declaration of Independence ,the were siging a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unlienable rights of life,liberty,and purcuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of colour are concerned.instead of honouring this scared obligations, America has given the Negro people a bad cheque, a cheque which has Comeback mark ed ‚‘ insufficient funds‘‘. But we refuse to believe that that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation .So we have come to Cash this cheque.

A cheque that will be give us upon demand the riches the riches of freedom and the security of justice . We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America and fierce tranquilizing of gradualism.Now is the time to make a real the promises of the 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 open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fetal for the Nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and Negro‘s legitimate the determination discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty three ( 1963 ) is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual . There will be neither Rest or 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 emerges

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the place of justice, in the process of gaining our right full place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds . Let us 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 and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force .