In this day, we are encouraged to consider the idealization of Dr. King's vision for an American Culture, as described in his "I Have A Dream" speech delivered duruing the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom".
This event occurred on August 26, 1963 ... two months after I graduated from High School; three months before the November 22, 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy; and just under five years before the April 4, 1968, assassination of Dr. King himself.
I'm seeing some consanguinity here. Are you?
No, I don't mean to imply that the "I Have a Dream" speech lead inevitably to the assassination of National Leaders.
I mean that there was a cultural awareness, an expansion of consciousness, which occurred in various aspects of American Society during the 1960's -- and I'm not just talking about Flower Power and 1967's "Summer of Love".
You may or may not believe in this thesis, and that's okay. The true point is Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech", and how deeply it resonated in American Cultural Awareness.
And what are the consequences ... or the benefits ... of Dr. King's vision today, nearly a half-century after this seminal event?
Follow along with selected quotes from the text of the "I Have A Dream" speech:
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
That was yesterday, and for today, and for tomorrow.
It is important that we judge our brothers not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I believed that 45 years ago, and I believe it today.
Do you believe?
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