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five score years
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ago a great American in whose symbolic
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Shadow We Stand
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today signed the Emancipation
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Proclamation this momentous decree
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came as a great Beacon Light Of Hope to
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millions of negro
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slaves who had been seared in the flame
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of withering
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Injustice it came as a joyous
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Daybreak to end the long night of their
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captivity but 100 years
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later the Negro
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still is not
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free 100 years
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later the life of the gr is still sadly
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crippled by the manacles of
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segregation and the chains of
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discrimination 100 years
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later the Negro lives on a lonely island
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of
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poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of
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material
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Prosperity 100 years
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later the Negro is still languished in
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the corners of American
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society and finds himself in Exile in
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his own
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land and so we've come here
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today to dramatize a shameful
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condition in a sense we've come to our
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nation's capital to cash a
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check when The Architects of our
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Republic wrote The Magnificent words of
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the Constitution and the Declaration of
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Independence they were signing a
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promisory
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note to which every American was to fall
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air this note was a promise at all
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men yes black men as well as white
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men would be guaranteed the unalienable
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rights of life
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liberty and the pursuit of happiness
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it is obvious
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today that America has defaulted on this
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promisory note in so far as her citizens
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of color are
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concerned instead of honoring this
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sacred
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obligation America has given the Negro
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people a bad check a check which has
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come back marked insufficient fund
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but we refuse to believe that the bank
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of justice is
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bankrupt we refuse to believe that there
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are insufficient funds in the great
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vaults of opportunity of this nation and
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so we've come to cash this check a check
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that will give us upon demand The Riches
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of freedom and the security of
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Justice we have also come to this Hall
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spot to remind America of the fierce
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urgency of
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now this is no
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time to engage in the luxury of ring off
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for to take the tranquilizing drug of
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gradualism now is the time yes it is to
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make real the promises of
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democracy now is the
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time to rise from the dark and desolate
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Valley of segregation to the sunlet path
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of racial Justice now is the time
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to lift our nation from the quick Sands
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of racial Injustice to the solid rocker
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Brotherhood now is the time
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now to make Justice a reality for all of
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God's
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children it would be fatal for the
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nation to overlook the urgency of the
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moment this sweltering Summit of the
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negro's legitimate discontent
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will not pass until that is an
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invigorating altum of freedom and
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equality
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1963 is not an end but a
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beginning those who hope that the Negro
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needed to blow off
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steam and will now be content will have
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a rude awakening if the nation returns
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to business as usual
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and there will be neither rest nor
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Tranquility in
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America until the Negro has granted his
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citizenship rights the whirlwinds or
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Revolt will continue to shake the
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foundations of our nation until the
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bright day of Justice
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emerges but that is something that I
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must say to my
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people who stand on the warm threshold
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which leads into the Palace of
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Justice in the process of gaining our
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rightful
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place we must not be guilty of wrongful
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Deeds let us not seek to satisfy our
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thirst for Freedom by drinking from the
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cup of bitterness and hatred
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we must forever conduct our struggle on
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the high plane of dignity and
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discipline we must not allow our
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creative
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protest to degenerate into physical
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violence again and
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again we must rise to the Majestic
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Heights of meeting physical force with
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soul
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Force the marvelous new
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militancy which has engulfed the Negro
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Community must not lead us to a distrust
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of all white people for many of our
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White Brothers as evidenced by their
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presence here today have come to realize
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that that Destiny is tied up with our
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destiny and they have come to realize
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that their freedom is inextricably bound
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to our freedom we cannot walk
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alone and as we
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walk we must make the pledge that we
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shall always March
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ahead we cannot turn
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back there are those who are asking the
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devotes of civil
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rights when will you be
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satisfied we can never be satisfied as
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long long as the Negro is the V victim
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of the Unspeakable horrors of police
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brutality we can never be
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satisfied as long as our bodies heavy
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with the fatigue of
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travel cannot gain laring in the motels
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of the highways and the hotels of the
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Cities we cannot be
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satisfied as long as the negro's basic
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mob AB ility is from a smaller ghetto to
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a larger
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one we can never be satisfied as long as
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our children are stripped of their
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selfhood and robbed of their dignity by
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signs stating for whites
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only we cannot be satisfied as long as a
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negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a
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negro in New York believes he has
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nothing for which to
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vote
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no no we are not satisfied and we will
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not be satisfied until jce rolls down
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like Waters and righteousness like a
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mighty stream
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I am not M
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unmindful that some of you have come
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here out of great trials and
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tribulations some of you have come fresh
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from narrow a jail
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C some of you have come from areas where
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your quest Quest For
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Freedom left you battered by the storms
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of
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persecution and staggered by The Winds
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of least
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brutality you have been the veterans of
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creative
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suffering continue to work with the
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faith that unearned
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suffering is
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Redemptive go back to
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Mississippi go back to Alabama go back
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to South Carolina go back to Georgia go
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back to Louisana go back to the slums
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and ghettos of our Northern
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cities knowing that somehow this
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situation can and will be changed let us
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not Waller in the valley of
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Despair I say to you today my
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[Music]
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friend so even though we Face the
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difficulties of today and
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tomorrow I still still have a dream yes
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it is a dream deeply rooted in the
00:11:04
American
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dream I have a
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dream that one
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day this nation will rise
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up and live out the true meaning of its
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Creed we hold these truths to be
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self-evident that all men are created
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equal
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I have a
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[Music]
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dream that one day on the Red Hills of
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Georgia the sons of former slaves and
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the sons of former slave owners will be
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be able to sit down together at the
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table of Brotherhood I have a
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dream that one
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day even the state of Mississippi as
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State sweltering with the heat of
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Injustice sweltering with the heat of
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Oppression will be transformed into an
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oasis of freedom and Justice I have a
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dream that my four little
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children will one day live in a nation
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where they will not be judged by the
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color of their skin but by the content
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of their character I have a dream
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today I have a dream that one
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day
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down in Alabama with its vicious
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races with its Governor having his lips
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dripping with the words of interposition
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and
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nullification one day right there in
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Alabama our little black boys and black
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girls will be able to join hands with
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little white boys and white girls as
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sisters and brothers I have a dream
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today I have a dream that one day every
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Valley shall be exalted and every Hill
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and Mountain shall be made low the rough
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places will be made plain and the
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Crooked places will be made straight and
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the glor of the Lord shall be revealed
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and All Flesh shall see it together this
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is our hope this is the faith that I go
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back to the South with with this faith
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we will be able to Hue out of the
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Mountain of Despair a stone of Hope with
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this faith we will be able to transform
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the jangling discords of our nation into
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a beautiful Symphony of Brotherhood with
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this faith we will be be able to work
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together to pray together to struggle
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together to go to jail together to stand
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up for Freedom together knowing that we
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will be free one
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day this will be the
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day this will be the day when all of
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God's children will be able to sing with
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new meaning my country tears of thee
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sweet land of liberty of Thee I Sing
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land where my father died land of the
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Pilgrim's Pride from Every Mountain Side
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Let Freedom Ring and if America is to be
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a great nation this must become true so
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Let Freedom
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Reign from the prodigious hilltops of
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New Hampshire Let Freedom rain from the
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mighty mountains of New York Let Freedom
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rain from the heightening alligan of
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Pennsylvania Let Freedom Ring from the
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snowcap Rockies of
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Colorado Let Freedom Ring from the caal
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slopes of California but not only that
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Let Freedom Ring from Stone Mountain of
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Georgia Let Freedom Ring from Lookout
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Mountain of
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Tennessee Let Freedom Ring from every
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Hill and mold Hill of Mississippi from
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Every Mountain Side Let Freedom Ring and
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when this happens
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when we allow Freedom
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Ring when we let it ring from every
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village and every Hamlet from every
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state and every
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city we will be able to speed up that
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day when all of God's children black men
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and white men Jews and Gentiles
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Protestants and Catholics will be able
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to join hands and singing the words of
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the old Negro spiritual free at last
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free at last thank God Almighty we are
00:16:01
free at last
