“I Have A Dream” is a speech that was delivered by the Black, Negro, African-American, Civil Rights Activist and Leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This famous speech occurred on August 28, 1963, during the March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in which Dr. King called for civil and economic rights for Negroes and for an end to racism in the United States. 59 years later, despite the freedoms, classes, jobs, fraternities, sororities, and secret/public/athletic and professional associations, statuses, successes and milestones achieved and enjoyed by certain Negroes, Coloreds, Blacks or African-Americans, the “Dream” of Dr. King is still under the somnolence of a people who have been robbed of the essence of what makes them men and women in the Eyes of God and in the eyes and minds of those who captured, kidnapped or purchased, transported and then enslaved them in the Americas and other parts of the European and Caribbean world.
No Black, Negro or African-American man or woman of sound mind and body can look at the past lives and current lives of the Negroes in America and say, “Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.” Only a foolish man or woman of color that is purely blind or self-centered, or that looks at the accomplishments of less that 1% of all Negroes in America as the measurement for racial freedom, justice and equality, can believe that we are out of the frying pan and not into the fire of the same nation that brought us here to be slaves to it and to its masters. It is not enough to have Black entertainers and athletes be successful; it is not enough to have Black businessmen and women be successful; it is not enough to have Black politicians get into office. Why is there a need, 59 years after the “I Have A Dream” speech, for the existence of a movement called Black Lives Matter? Why would the first Black, African-American, Negro President of the United States of America have to implement a program called ‘My Brother’s Keeper’, directed toward saving Black “disadvantaged”, “at-risk” youth, keeping them on track; knowing that statistically by the time they reach the 3rd grade they will either be successful or be victims of the jails or graves? Why have a need for such programs and movements if the “Dream” was fulfilled and it came true?
The fact is, the “Dream” of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is still alive and evolving. The problem is that the Blacks who are the target of the “Dream” are awake now and have stopped dreaming; they are out of bed and into the streets without the magical slippers and pajamas that keep the “Dream” alive and moving toward fulfillment. The Blacks have violated the precepts and dictates of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and have fallen victim to the Willie Lynch and Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome and Disorder; they have lost the focus of the nation and have become independents in search of individual freedoms while allowing their brothers and sisters just like them to languish on the plantations of ignorance, ignominy and oblivion while the world keeps turning and passing the Blacks by with only a vacuum of material acquisitions to become the stars in their skies; they have replaced God and the real stars in the skies with false lights and glitter as the guiding lights for almost all of their quests.
It takes the outright murder and assassination of Black people for the snoring, ebony relics to awaken to the real situation at hand; a situation that cannot be remedied by hair weaves, wigs, long fingernails, makeup, fancy clothes, nice homes, big screen televisions, nice cars rims, DVD players, game stations and surround sound systems, jewelry, or outward appearances that have value only in the streets and clubs of America. Not a single church, synagogue, temple, mosque, masjid, ashram or revival tent has established a presence in America where it is revered and feared enough to dissuade and eliminate all unnecessary racial profiling, targeting, harassment and unlawful beating, detention, arrest, and the ungodly murder of Black men, women and children in the streets, homes and cars of America.
Only after the murder is committed, it is then that the independent Negroes decide to unite for the purpose of protesting or asking for justice. They wasted years of being buffoons and clowns, singing, acting, dancing, running, jumping, boxing and fighting their way into the light of acceptance by White people and the world. We lost all constructive unity and consolidated proactivity and vied for independence from the crowd. HNIC became the goal and destiny of the new-age Negro. Instead of having spent the previous times following and sticking to a local, regional and national plan that would liberate all Black, African-American, Negro people, the masses and asses got distracted like deer in the headlights or raccoons chasing shiny objects and thus turned on each other and left the doors and windows open for an onslaught from all sides and from all creatures on Earth that are determined to undermine the Blacks.
From the days of legal freedom and emancipation to the days of the frequent the killing of Blacks at the hands of Whites, then with a flurry of reminders that gained national attention like killing of Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, and others, topped by the assassination of prominent Black leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, and the global recognition of the broad daylight murder of George Floyd, the Negro has been instilled with fear and has been cajoled into turning to the other cheek when slapped on the opposite cheek. The Negro has been put to sleep, but this time, instead of dreaming the “Dream”, he and she are tormented by nightmares that are not founded upon a lack of freedom, justice or equal distribution of wealth and opportunities, but instead he and she are tormented by the fear of not having some material possessions that give him and her a status that is recognized among lesser beings. All the while, whilst they sleep, George Floyd is crying out to his mother to get this White man’s knee off his neck so that he can breathe.
Not a single Black man or woman could do anything to stop this murder and public execution; all they could do is film it live, watch the last breath to leave George’s body, and then wait for the jury to decide and render a verdict. This is a sad and impotent position to be in as a people, and the message is clear to America and the world: Black Lives Matter (when White people say they matter). Until then, a Negro is just fair game to be hunted, used, abused or discarded on the plains and terrains of the White hunters, the masters of the Black universe.
If we review the entire speech of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we can see the parallel between his time, previous times, and our current time in America. Despite all of our individual gains and successes, and with all the HBCUs in America, the status of Black people is not that great. Not too much has changed except the landscape where we can be disrespected, hunted or mistreated, in private and in public, and neither a single nation on Earth nor a single people will raise a finger to stop the slaying. Sure everyone can take a knee, bow, pray, march and protest, but the killing did not, does not, and will not stop. Without a plan and a national leader, without a head, there can be no precise and effective movement of the body. Thus it is best to remain asleep and inactive than to run around headless and heedless and just stay within the crosshairs of those who love to hunt, torture and kill for sport and fun, not for food.
This biggest game and best hunt is the adversary, the rival human being, the Negro master-builder. To take down a king or queen and make him or her bow and cower to the will of the hunter is a masterful achievement that has been executed in plain history. This why they play Chess and Checkers. They want to capture the kings and queens and be crowned as the victors over other people. Despite the truthful facts being presented and recorded, not a single Negro dare raise his or her head in national and worldly protest, lest he or she become another statistic and die for a cause that the entire Black nation is not even willing to participate in. There are no Black superheroes; there are only ex-slaves running free on the White man’s plantation and partaking of the goods, programs and services he offers.
“I HAVE A DREAM”
by Martin Luther King Jr.
“Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. 100 years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to Cash A Check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a Promissory Note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men – yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check; a check that will give us, upon demand, the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to his 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 quick sands 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. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.
Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. 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. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning: “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that, let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.’”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he died at 7:05 p.m. Malcom X was assassinated February 21, 1965 at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights, Harlem, New York. Since the 1960s, countless numbers of Black men, women, boys, girls and teens have been murdered, assassinated, shot, beaten, choked, drugged, electrocuted, hanged, drowned, and put to death in American prisons by electricity or lethal injection for the crime of being Black and Free in America. Since the 1960s, millions of Blacks have been purposefully poisoned with poor, bad and toxic foods, drinks and medicines, in addition to the intentional and targeted release and spread of pollution and pollutants into their living environments. Why bring us, the Africans, to this land just to destroy, demean, dehumanize, decimate, dishonor, disrespect and deliberately demonize us as a people created by God, the Lord and God of Jesus, Moses, Solomon, David, Noah, John, Abraham and Muhammad? Why? What crime did the Africans do to deserve this treatment from Christians, White Europeans? There has to be a reason to single Africans out for this Devilish and demonic display of poor hospitality and ungodliness. These White Christians that enslaved Africans make Hitler look like a member of the junior mafia.
While we still echo the “Dream”, we struggle to see it in its reality whilst we sleepwalk and daydream. We have achieved minor successes that were part of Dr. King’s Dream, however the trinkets given to us so that we can stop dreaming, stop hoping, stop the revolution, and abandon the requests for equality are insufficient to fulfill the true Dream that Dr. King eluded to in his speech. So the puppet masters have allowed integration but have not allowed equality; the masters have taken off the physical chains but have not freed the Negro from bondage; the leaders have removed the “Whites Only” signs but have not removed the advantages and benefits that lead to true freedom and success in America and the world that are for “Whites Only”; the American daughters and sons of false European gods have encouraged song and dance, sports and play, amusement and pastime, but have not encouraged truth and openness so that Black people, the Negroes of America, the African-American citizens of the United States of America could truly be free and equal in all areas of human existence.
Instead of good books, stethoscopes, engineering tools and equipment, dental equipment, science and mathematics being distributed and flooded throughout our communities, they gave us and still give to us athletes and entertainers, hoops and loops, sneakers and speakers, beer, wine, malt liquor, cocaine, crack, marijuana, opium, opioids, hashish, heroin, meth, strong spirits of intoxicants, unbridled profanity, promiscuity, adultery, prostitution, pimping and pandering, and all sorts and manners of evil and corruption. So although we are not banned from going into most White areas within the society, and we are no longer killed for looking at White people, marrying White people, sleeping with White people, partying with White people, living around and with White people, and we are not killed for reading and trying to get out of the chokehold placed on us socially and economically, we are still not afforded the same opportunities or sent in the same directions as White people are directed and sent.
I HAVE A NEW DREAM! The old “Dream” is good enough for those who were born or were children, teenagers or adults prior to and during the 1960s and 1970s. The old “Dream” was rehearsed and spread among the children of both the Whites and Blacks who know that America was segregated and unjust during those difficult and ugly times. However the new generation has no ties to this old “Dream” except that it is a part of American and Black history, but this “Dream” is not influential in their present lives. Being half a century removed from the hardships suffered by Black people in America, and being victims of parents who have purposefully run as fast as possible to erase or flee from the memory of slavery, Jim Crow, and all of the ugliness that Blacks suffered under White rule and White supremacy, the old “Dream” has no value to our youth. At some point many youth have lived with, worked with, gone to school with, played with, partied with, ate and drank with, did drugs and alcohol with, dated and had sex with, experienced homosexuality with, married and had children with, fought and died on the battle fields with, and invested and made money with, White people. No need for the “Dream.”
Until a White man or woman kills an unarmed and innocent Black man, woman or child, there is no racial divide in their world; they are primarily in a video or virtual world that has no race in it, and they are oblivious to the true history of America and the suffering of Black people in America. Thus the new generation says, “It’s all good.” Like the weaves and wigs that cover Black women’s hair, the history of Black people in America is covered up, overshadowed or disguised by some foreign objects that suffocate reality and cause an illness in the brain, eyes, psyche and soul of the Black people who accept and adorn themselves with these fake coverings. This permits the deaf, dumb and blind to foster false realities within their selves and make them believe that the fake is the real and the real is not even worthy of being seen in private or in public. At east the old Black women would take their wigs off once they got home but the new generation wants to permanently live in a world of illusion, delusion, fantasy and make-believe.
As long as we can delude ourselves into believing that we are different, that things are better now, and that we have overcome, and as long as we can play house and put on mommy’s and daddy’s clothes, dressing up like adults while we are still children and babies as a race of people, we will let go of the “Dream” and stop fighting because someone declared that the war was over and we are free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty we are free at last. It’s Juneteenth Niggahs! You are free! It’s time to party, dance, eat, drink and be merry! Give the White people more or all of your money while you celebrate! Then after the celebration, what? What now?
I HAVE A NEW DREAM! The new dream is not to achieve what is already given to us by God; the new dream is to fix what is broken, replace what is missing, return that which has been stolen, unveil that which has been hidden, revive that which has been killed, exhume that which has been buried dead or alive, and restore that which has been purposefully and systemically disfigured or destroyed. You can join a race and run along side a people that have been running ahead of you for 400 years and believe that you are equal to them or keeping pace with them simply because you are now running side-by-side with them during your laps. However, if you look at the lap counter, you will realize that you are just entering the race and the other runners are already 400 laps ahead of you. Running side-by-side with them will never allow you to catch up with them, surpass them, or allow you to have a chance at winning the race. So they don’t mind you joining the race this late in the race and keeping them company because no matter what you do in the race, they are and will always be ahead of you. You are not a threat to them at all.
The new dream requires a faster pace in the race and requires that we create a race of our own. We cannot win their race with them having such a long head start. They are laughing at us; the crowd and spectators are laughing at us; the world is laughing at us. As long as we play their game and surrender to their paradigm we will always be way behind them in life and in America. This is why they pretend to punish us and act like they don’t want us to progress. When we eventually get what we want, they move the finish line and change the rules of the game. We are always playing catch up.
We work hard to get and wear red if they say the color of the day is red. Then they make red hard for us to get or tell us it’s the wrong shade or hue or something is just not right with our red color. Then once we meet all the requirements of acceptance, they switch the color to blue or yellow or any color except red. They continue to play the same cat and mouse game with us and we keep falling for it. Why? It is because we are still playing their games of acceptance and worth. We are not satisfied or deemed to be successful until we are successful in their eyes and according to their models, brands and standards.
This is our eternal damnation! As long as they control the measuring sticks and Oz, we will never reach the Promised Land because once we get there they will say, “That’s not the Promised Land; you still have a hundred more miles to go.” And we will go wherever they tell us to go because they control everything in, about, outside and around us, including our hopes and dreams. I HAVE A NEW DREAM.
They didn’t bring us here so that we can be equal to them or masters of them; they brought us here to be slaves to them and to be under their rule for eternity, even in heaven. Oh, did you forget that indoctrination that the Blacks would serve the Whites in Heaven? Don’t forget their plan! So to keep buying into the intoxicating lifestyles that cause us to follow their lead, we will never overcome anything except the obstacles that they constantly place in our paths so that we slip, fall, stumble and fumble our way toward reaching them and their marks of success. Usually by the time we get where they are, we find out that they are gone from that place and all that is left is a hologram, a scent, some residue or trace of their success. Then like bloodhounds, we sniff the trails and try to catch up to them again, only to find and repeat the same scenario: Scratch and sniff. The value they portrayed to us is not the same value we get when we inherit their earthly possessions.
Everything we achieve is depreciated by them but is greatly appreciated by us because we chase Whiteness. Even when they prop up Negroes for us to follow as our models for our achievements in American life, these models are White models with Black skin. New homes, new cars, new clothes, new jewelry, new high school diplomas and college degrees, new jobs, new boyfriends and/or girlfriends and/or significant others and/or unidentified genders, new vacations, new money, etc. Same old trick with new coverings over them so that we keep playing the game of “Catch Me If You Can”. They know we will never catch them so they keep inventing and reinventing and cajoling us so that we keep chasing their images, icons and idols, including Christ Jesus who is drawn and portrayed in the graven image of a White man.
As long as we follow, worship and idolize White people, we will never focus on who, what, how, where and why we truly are, by God’s Design and by His Authority. This is their plan, and most of our ignorant fore-parents bought into this concept of mental masturbation to the images of White supremacy. Just look at how many African slaves have married their White masters and mistresses.
Their new design is to integrate with us and make us accept all manners of destruction of our true selves. Having a White husband or wife makes it very difficult to claim Black Lives Matter because there is not just Black in the family anymore; it’s hard to be Black revolutionary when you have White children to look after and raise in a world without color. It’s like a Palestinian marrying an Israeli; what a household that will be. So in the fight for freedom, the Black gets confused as the elements of White privilege are sprinkled into his or her Black mind and as the doors of seeming privilege are opened to the Negro and the hybrid/mixed children that come from this union.
Pretty soon, there is no talk about Black struggles and the revolution is abandoned or forgotten. Yet the slave ships continue to sail and bring over new fodder. The Black man and woman that sought true freedom died a long time ago, and all that has been in existence in America is the colored shells of ancient Africa that house the dead men and women who are descendants of great rulers but who have been turned into voluntary slaves and who have boarded this new ship of fools.
I HAVE A NEW DREAM! This dream requires us to wake up and stop dreaming.
