(Thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. Based an article published by Lolligolli in Daily Kos, February 22, 2006. Permission to reprint granted with citation. :-) )
Six score and eighteen years ago, the American states ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America saying that
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of minorities groups who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. Woman, people of color, minority ethnic groups and religions, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgendered, the disabled, and many other groups were all given hope.
It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred and thirty eight years later, the GBLT communities still are not free. One hundred and thirty eight years later, the life of the GLBT is still sadly crippled by the manacles of prejudice and the chains of discrimination.
Lolligolli's diary :: ::
One hundred and thirty eight years later, the GBLT lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred and thirty eight years later, the GBLT still languished in the corners of American society and finds themselves an exile in our own land. Still denied the rights of marriage, civil unions, rights of powers of attorney, inheritances, and hospitalization and visitation rights with our spouses. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've 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, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all people, yes, GLBT people, as well as straight people, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens the GLBT are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the GLBT people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "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 nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in 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 discrimination to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the GLBT communities legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Two thousand and six is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the GLBT needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the GLBT 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 palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful 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.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the GLBT community must not lead us to a distrust of all straight people, for many of our straight brothers and sisters, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always 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 the GLBT is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. 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 GLBT in Mississippi cannot marry and a GLBT in Virginia faces further laws banning their right to even civil unions and domestic partnerships. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
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 jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- 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 South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the Back Bays and gay 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.
And so even though we face there 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 people are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the GLBT of the former oppressed and the sons of former oppressors people 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 their sexual orientation, identification, affectation, or expression, 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, and 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, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
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.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of
Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom 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, Gays, Lesbians, Bi-sexual, and Transgendered as well as straight, ordinary, and unfashionably dressed 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!
Other Lolligolli GBLT Dairies
6. A Wish For A Mother's Day When Our GLBT Children Can Have Equal Protection Under The Law
(Diaries, All Topics)
posted by Lolligolli on 05/20/2006 19:33:58 PDT
36 comments (0 new)
4. Core Democratic Party Principles And Commitments By Lolligolli and HoundDog
(Diaries, All Topics)
posted by Lolligolli on 05/09/2006 02:48:48 PDT
30 comments ( new)
34. Opposition To Gay Marriage Shows 12% Decline In Pew Poll
(Diaries, All Topics)
posted by Lolligolli on 03/23/2006 21:06:38 PDT
50 comments ( new)
42. Is Marriage A Religious 1st Amendment Issue or A Civil Rights and Equality 14th Amendement Issue?
(Diaries, All Topics)
posted by Lolligolli on 03/07/2006 17:56:26 PDT
25 comments ( new)
46. 2008 Presidential Candidates' Positions on GLBT Issues and 2008 Platform Proposal
(Diaries, All Topics)
posted by Lolligolli on 02/26/2006 10:21:10 PDT
2 comments ( new)
47. I Have a GLBT Dream: Inspired By Martin Luther King Jr.
(Diaries, All Topics)
posted by Lolligolli on 02/24/2006 22:13:49 PDT
16 comments ( new)
48. Where Are 2008 Candidates On GLBT Issues? Civil Unions, Same-Sex Marraige, Party Platform? (Poll)
(Diaries, All Topics)
posted by Lolligolli on 02/23/2006 21:42:24 PDT
37 comments ( new)
49. Most GBLT Friendly 2008 Presidential Candidates? Questionnaire (Poll)
(Diaries, All Topics)
posted by Lolligolli on 02/22/2006 13:02:52 PDT
64 comments ( new)
50. 2008 Litmus Tests: Will You Support and Enforce the 1, 9, 10, and 14 Amendments? Part 1
(Diaries, All Topics)
posted by Lolligolli on 02/20/2006 20:41:31 PDT
16 comments ( new)
60. Full Equality and Rights For the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Communities. (Poll)
(Diaries, All Topics)
posted by Lolligolli on 12/10/2005 09:17:49 PDT
13 comments ( new)
Others to come. I must attend to a family matter for about four hours. I ask pro-GLBT advocates to shepard comments in the direction of maximum goodness. Thanks. :-)