August 28, 2008

"I Have A Dream..."


Forty-five years ago today, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and gave one of the greatest speeches of all time.

If you've never listened to the speech in its entirety, do yourself a favour and take 18 minutes out of your day to do so. You won't regret it. It will blow you away, like it did I. It is, needless to say, intensely powerful and remarkably inspiring.


I still find it hard to believe that only 45 years ago America was such a racially divided place.

Call it wonderful scheduling, or call it fate, but here we are 45 years to the day later, and history will once again be made on August 28th. Tonight, my pride and joy Barack Obama will accept the Democratic nomination for the 44th presidency of the United States of America, becoming the first African-American to lead a major party to the polls.

I have no doubt that the late, great Martin Luther King Jr. will be watching down on Invesco Field in Denver tonight as Obama delivers what is already being dubbed "The Dream Speech II," in front of more than 70,000 people. I can't wait.

As Barack Obama prepares to climb Mount Olympus and do what most people have always said is impossible, I know he'll be buoyed by the strength and legacy of the great civil rights leader, who paved the very road that Obama is travelling on. Barack has proved that Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death was not in vain.

America has come a long, long way in 45 years, and we'll find out in November just how far the nation has come. But one thing is for certain, we all have Martin Luther King, Jr. to thank.

So, thank you, Dr. King.

Watch the speech.

2 comments:

dani said...

That speech blows my mind every time.

I loved Michelle Obama's speech too. It was so amazing.

Andrew Bucholtz said...

Good call: that was a fantastic speech by King. Unfortunately, good orators are few and far between these days, especially in the political ranks. Obama is one of the few who can still give a good speech, and that's one of the many reasons why I support him (another one is that he knows how to use the Internet, unlike John McCain)...