The “I Have a Dream” speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963 was a very important one to America. In this historic speech, Dr. King said that he had a dream that white and black children would one day walk hand in hand, and that one day sons of former slaves and sons of former slave-owners would be able to agree to live together.
The 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s were a hard time for African-Americans. They were not treated equally because of their skin color. The laws protected this judgment by requiring separate bathroom, schools, and even drinking fountains.
Dr. King’s speech was important in several ways. It was given in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, the monument honoring President Abraham Lincoln who had issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed slaves in the Southern states. By giving the speech there, King was bringing awareness to how the nation had failed to live up to its promise of freedom.
He also shared a message of nonviolence. That is what is wrong with the world today. Everyone wants to react to violence with violence, creating more violence. It is better to be peaceful than to be violent. Although some people think that the only way that they can get the attention of higher authorizes is to be violent that isn’t necessarily true.
Dr. King taught that doing things the right way is doing it peacefully. With everything going on in the world today, like police brutality, peacefulness is what we need. It is going to take a lot, however, to change the mindset of a whole nation.
Dr. King had a vision of a society in which race was not an issue in how people are treated or how they are allowed to live their lives. In today’s society, African Americans and minorities are too often targeted by law enforcement. It’s sad that Dr. King’s vision is not a reality in American or anywhere else in the world.
When will we live in a world where everyone is equal? It isn’t fair that because someone is of a different color they are treated differently. We need Dr. King’s words of hope and inspiration now more than ever!