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On each annual occasion of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we publicly review and celebrate the legacy of his words and deeds upon his people. Oppressed by the bigotry and discrimination of their times, upon hearing his words, many African-Americans took hope they too might emerge to live their lives with the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness guaranteed to not just one race or one class of American people but Constitutionally bestowed upon all American people.
Decades following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we do this today. In all fairness to Dr. King, we must observe that that legacy is much larger than Dr. King and his followers ever dared to dream. We must note the impact of his words and deeds had upon all of us.
By his example, Martin Luther King, Jr. demonstrated to all within his listening and viewing audiences that when one American is deprived of his or her Constitutionally bestowed rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all Americans bear the shame and responsibility for allowing it to happen.
Why is this important?
Today we also review the oppression of civil rights in this Country of all American people. We can stand by and do nothing and allow that oppression submitted under the guise of fighting a war on terror to eradicate all of our civil liberties. We can allow our Country to retract to a barbaric place in time when the lives of the individuals had little or no importance to those sitting in the seats of power. We can allow our existence to be totally subordinated to the thrust of greed, corruption, corporate power, as well as to the influence of domestic political and religious cults now driving our daily existence. If these influences prevail to dominate our daily lives, we lose that which we were guaranteed by the Constitution and thus the political cultural essence of this American Country.
Unless … regardless of our cultural heritages … we remember the civil rights struggles of the sixties and seventies and unite as American brothers and sisters empowered by the words and deeds of Martin Luther King, Jr. We must stand up for ourselves and for our Country.
Dr. King’s spirit and his example to stand up and speak out dare us to dream our perseverance in doing so will today lead us all to the political promise land.
As a small child living in Knoxville, Tennessee at the time Dr. King emerged on the national scene, I was too young and too naive to comprehend the travesties of which he spoke. Nonetheless, I heard his words and decades later they are still inside my conscious being. I give thanks for the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. as an American who inspired many people of all races, creeds and colors to champion the rights we have been given by both the framers of the Constitution and components of our society which positively influence simply our morality and the sense of common decency we must extend to all American brothers and sisters -- and beyond that, to our brothers and sisters around the world.
Thank you, Dr. King, for the gifts of your words and actions which continue today to inspire many of the oppressed to find their voice and speak out. We dare to dream all of us will find the political promise land and that dream is what you left behind for all American people.
I dare to dream we will hold those accountable who seek to usurp our civil liberties and our Democratic principles while trampling our Constitution. I believe that dream can be realized through the inspiration Americans have received from the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and those who follow in his footsteps.
I write today I intend to speak out, to take up the gauntlet thrown by the President of the People Al Gore.
So what do you dream and what will you do to make that political dream come true?
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