| I say to you today,
my friends so even though we face the difficulties
友よ、私は今日皆さんに 申し上げたい。 今日も 明日も いろいろな 困難や挫折に 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 it's 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 slaveowners will be
able to sit down together at table of the
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 judged by
the color of there skin but the content of
their character. I have a dream
today! I have a dream that one day down
in Alabama with vicious racists,
with its Governor having his lips dripping
with the word of interposition
and nullification.One day right there 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
hills and mountains 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 that 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... 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.
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
snow-capped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous
slopes of California! Not only
that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain
of Georgia! Let freedom ring
from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom
ring from every hills and molehills
of Mississippi, and from every
mountainside! Let freedom ring
and when this happens. When we allow freedom
to ring, when we let it ring
from every village and every hamlet, from
every state and every city, we
will 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!"
(1963.8.28.『ワシントン大行進』の際のスピーチ) |