Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech over 50 years ago, and sadly, he could repeat his oration today and it would still be relevant:
…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 segregation 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…
Dr. King was only 34 years old when he delivered one of the most iconic speeches in our country’s history. I fervently hope that his legacy gives a young person today the courage necessary to become the next great orator and that all of us use our voices to champion democracy with the fierce urgency of now.
