Almost every person in America has heard of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic and inspirational “I have a dream” speech. On August 23, 1963, over 250,000 civil rights supporters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C to hear his speech. It became one of the most famous speeches in history, but why?
First of all, it had very strong and well chosen words. Probably the most famous sentence is this one:”I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a nation, where not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” It is so powerful, and the rest of the speech is of equal strength, so you can see why it is so treasured.
Another reason why it is so empowering is how MTK was so brave and stood up for the entire black community. At the time, it was a bit dangerous to speak such bold words on racism and segregation. There were a lot of people who believed in segregation, and were definitely not a fan of the civil rights movement. Also, MTK gave a voice for the voiceless. A lot of people were scared to say what they believed, or weren’t heard because they didn’t have the right platform, but his speech spoke for them.
One last reason is that MTK Jr. wrote his speech in a completely peaceful way. Instead of calling out white people for segregation, he instead asked for unity without any rudeness to any race. He focused on how he had a dream to fix the problem, not how the problem started.
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protest, we are once again reminded of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech. It feels sad that even almost 57 years later, his dream has still not been fulfilled. Of course it is better, but there is still a lot of things that show that we still have a ways to go. America must keep trying to have more equal rights. The only reason these problems keep resurfacing, are because there is not enough change, and because setbacks are recurring in the most terrible ways. We must remember MTK Jr.’s words, and help reach the goal in his dreams.
In conclusion, the “I have a dream speech” is probably the most important civil rights speech ever. Everybody should remember Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, especially in hard times , and strive to make a difference. Hopefully, in a few years, his iconic and famous dream will finally be fulfilled, and we can all stand together as equals.