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I Have a Dream 3052 Views
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Description:
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech has stood the test of time, and we think it always will.
Transcript
- 00:04
I Have a Dream, a la Shmoop. We may not have the whole thing committed
- 00:10
to memory…
- 00:10
…but we all know at least bits and pieces of Martin Luther King Jr.’s immortal speech.
- 00:16
Here are a couple familiar-sounding nuggets:
- 00:19
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not
Full Transcript
- 00:28
be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…”
- 00:33
“Let freedom ring…”
- 00:36
“Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
- 00:42
“Would you eat them in a box? Would you eat them with a fox?
- 00:46
Okay, to be fair, that last one was Seuss. But still.
- 00:50
It’s been a long time since King delivered that speech…
- 00:53
…and the world has changed quite a lot.
- 00:56
But… are blacks “free at last,” as he hoped?
- 01:01
Is his dream now a reality? Or are we still in the process of waking up?
- 01:10
One big point in the “reality” column is that we have now elected a black president.
- 01:15
Not only that… but we’ve re-elected a black president.
- 01:19
So seemingly we didn’t just vote Obama into office as a social experiment.
- 01:25
The fact that a majority of the country… however slim… is willing to have a black
- 01:29
man lead our country…
- 01:30
…seems to indicate that the ugly veil of racism has been lifted… at least somewhat.
- 01:36
But does that mean there aren’t others who are still hanging onto a racist agenda?
- 01:40
Will King’s dream not become reality until our nation is 100 percent bigot-free?
- 01:47
Most people are pretty good about not hating… redheads, for example.
- 01:52
But we’re sure there is a small segment of crazy out there who are forming “I Hate
- 01:56
Ginger” clubs as we speak. Does that mean that our nation isn’t truly
- 02:00
free as long as there is even the tiniest bit of irrational hate bubbling below the
- 02:05
surface? Or… are we not nearly as close as we think
- 02:09
we are?
- 02:10
True, black Americans have numerous opportunities that they did not have 50 years ago…
- 02:16
…and they can hold many positions of authority that were previously off-limits…
- 02:19
…but hate crimes still abound. There are still daily reports of racism-fueled
- 02:25
acts of violence…
- 02:26
…and even non-minorities who claim that they “don’t see color” may still harbor
- 02:32
some degree of subconscious prejudice. So… are “little black boys and black girls
- 02:38
free to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters
- 02:43
and brothers”…
- 02:43
…as King hoped? Does our election of a black president prove
- 02:48
that we’ve cleared the divide?
- 02:50
Are a small percentage of haters ruining it for the rest of us?
- 02:53
Or is the world King dreamed of… still something of a nightmare?
- 02:57
Shmoop amongst yourselves.
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