Happy Birthday Dr. King

we still have a long way to go, but we have come so far...
The ending passge taken from the speech, "The Birth of a New Nation" (1957)

"O God, our gracious Heavenly Father, help us to see the insights that come from this new nation. Help us to follow Thee and all of Thy creative works in this world. And that somehow we will discover that we are made to live together as brothers. And that it will come in this generation: the day when all men will recognize the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man"

I second that! Lots of kids at my school were surprised at the election. They couldn't imagine that we'd never had a president of color. It's nice that they think that way...so far we've come, so far we must still go:-)

My best friend Tanya is in Washington DC with a neighbor of hers, a 92 year old black lady named Minnie Kennedy - Tanya planned for months and plotted, planned and searched for tickets to take her. It is so cool on so many levels! Miss Minnie marched with Dr. King, and he is referring to her (and the folks that were with her) when he said the part in his speech about ".. coming fresh from narrow cells" - she and her friends, Freedom Riders were put in jail in LA for teaching the Constitution and getting folks to vote, and she had just been released days before joining him in Washington for the Dream speech.
I feel so very good about all of this, and so hopeful for our nation - we can at last see the Dream that was promised and long denied, now coming true.
http://www.thestate.com/local/story/653840.html

Every man must decide
whether he will walk in the light
of creative altruism
or in the darkness
of destructive selfishness.
~~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King and the FULL text and video and audio of his I Have A Dream speech.
It is 17 minutes long. His "I have a Dream" part is towards the end, but the entire speech is amazing, especially for those of us who remember how it was -
Take the time sometime in the next day to listen to it in it's entirety.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

I refuse to accept the view
that mankind is so tragically bound
to the starless midnight of racism and war
that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood
can never become a reality...
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love
will have the final word.
~~Martin Luther King, Jr.

wow, great stuff pyromomma!! he really was an amazing writer

I appreciate both you and bev for taking a moment to honor a man that changed all of our lives for the better...:)

How could we not? :-)))