‘I have a dream’

~ beetleypete

Fifty years ago this week, I was eleven years old. I saw a news report on TV, about a huge march of protest, in Washington D.C., in America. Martin Luther King Jr. was addressing this huge crowd, the largest I could remember seeing, in my short life up to that time. I knew a little about the plight of black people in the USA, and had seen reports about segregation, and the KKK. I well remember being mesmerised by the speech, and by the style of the orator. Although I was not religious, even then, so discounted any of that aspect, this speech held me in rapture, and perhaps more importantly, made me believe in the honesty of Mr King, and to also wish for the realisation of his desires.

If you have never seen it, it will be worth the eighteen minutes of your life, to view the grainy original on this You Tube link.

If you would also like to read the words, here is a link to the original text.

Click to access dream-speech.pdf

Mr King never got to see his dream realised. He was assassinated, in dubious circumstances, less than five years later. I am not sure if he would have been pleased at the current state of things in the USA, but had he lived, he would have seen black politicians respected, in positions of power, and not least, a black president.

It is unlikely that any of this would have happened, had it not been for this memorable speech.

23 thoughts on “‘I have a dream’”

    1. He predicted his own early death on many occasions, Elizabeth. I was in a foreign country, thousands of miles away, and only 11 years old. But that speech has lived in my memory every day since.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. Reblogged this on beetleypete and commented:

    With all the thoughts and reflections about Martin Luther King going around the blogs, and on the TV news, I was reminded of my post from 2013. I was a fairly new blogger back then, and it is interesting to me that it only received nine likes, and a few comments.
    But some of you who liked and commented are still around, which pleased me to see.
    For all the new followers since, I think you might get something from viewing and reading this legendary speech.

    Liked by 1 person

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  11. I find it chillingly ironic, though Pete, when I see a black President intent on going to war making a speech at the memorial of a black man who was assassinated for dreaming about that President being there. And even despite King’s efforts black Americans still suffer the things he was dreaming would stop. The world is crazy.

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  12. “W.E.B. Dubois taught so that Rosa Parks could take a seat. Rosa took a seat so we all could take a stand. We all took a stand so that Martin Luther King Jr. could march. Martin marched so Jesse Jackson could run. Jesse ran so Obama could WIN.”

    by Cleo Fields, former Congressman and State Senator from Louisiana

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