THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND ITS LEADER M.L.KING
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One of the proudest aspects of the 1950s and '60s was the civil rights movement, with its visionary leader Martin Luther King, Jr. By the time of this photograph, taken in the summer of 1965, King had become the preeminent spokesman for American freedom, a legitimate heir to Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Susan B. Anthony.
In the middle decades of the twentieth century, one hundred years after the Civil War, marked the beginning of a new move toward freedom for African-Americans. No longer willing to wait, civil rights leaders and masses of peaceful demonstrators awoke the conscience of the nation and forced the government to make long over due promises of justice a reality. In 1955, Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a crowded Montgomery, Alabama bus triggered a boycott of city buses organized by Montgomery's African-American leaders. Thirteen months later, the Supreme Court ruled segregation on public transportation unconstitutional. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged as a powerful, charismatic leader. He articulated the philosophy of nonviolent resistance that galvanized the civil rights movement. In September 1957, Orval Faubus used the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine black children from entering Central High School in Little Rock. Finally, President Eisenhower, who had remained silent on civil rights, intervened rather than see federal laws flouted under the guise of states' rights. In spring 1963, civil rights activists turned their attention to Birmingham, Alabama, an entrenched stronghold of segregation. When the city police released dogs and turned high-pressure fire hoses on a thousand demonstrating young people, television cameras broadcast the scenes to living rooms across the country. Americans felt horror and shame.
In August 1963, over two hundred and fifty thousand Americans jammed the mall for the August 1963 March on Washington. They wanted passage of the Kennedy civil rights bill; integration of schools; an end to job discrimination; and a job-training program. In the unforgettable climax of the rally, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed the crowd, delivering his passionate "I Have A Dream" speech.
The constant and highly visible demonstrations of African-American citizens no longer willing to wait for their rights could not help but attract the attention of the federal government. John F. Kennedy became president in 1961 in an aura of youthful optimism and idealism. The crisis with Cuba and the Soviet Union over missile installations just ninety miles from the United States soon sobered that mood. But in Kennedy's thousand days in office, he introduced a civil rights bill, which Congress later passed. That action brought both African-Americans and the entire nation closer to its ideal of freedom for all.
One of the proudest aspects of the 1950s and '60s was the civil rights movement, with its visionary leader Martin Luther King, Jr. By the time of this photograph, taken in the summer of 1965, King had become the preeminent spokesman for American freedom, a legitimate heir to Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Susan B. Anthony.
In the middle decades of the twentieth century, one hundred years after the Civil War, marked the beginning of a new move toward freedom for African-Americans. No longer willing to wait, civil rights leaders and masses of peaceful demonstrators awoke the conscience of the nation and forced the government to make long over due promises of justice a reality. In 1955, Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a crowded Montgomery, Alabama bus triggered a boycott of city buses organized by Montgomery's African-American leaders. Thirteen months later, the Supreme Court ruled segregation on public transportation unconstitutional. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged as a powerful, charismatic leader. He articulated the philosophy of nonviolent resistance that galvanized the civil rights movement. In September 1957, Orval Faubus used the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine black children from entering Central High School in Little Rock. Finally, President Eisenhower, who had remained silent on civil rights, intervened rather than see federal laws flouted under the guise of states' rights. In spring 1963, civil rights activists turned their attention to Birmingham, Alabama, an entrenched stronghold of segregation. When the city police released dogs and turned high-pressure fire hoses on a thousand demonstrating young people, television cameras broadcast the scenes to living rooms across the country. Americans felt horror and shame.
In August 1963, over two hundred and fifty thousand Americans jammed the mall for the August 1963 March on Washington. They wanted passage of the Kennedy civil rights bill; integration of schools; an end to job discrimination; and a job-training program. In the unforgettable climax of the rally, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed the crowd, delivering his passionate "I Have A Dream" speech.
The constant and highly visible demonstrations of African-American citizens no longer willing to wait for their rights could not help but attract the attention of the federal government. John F. Kennedy became president in 1961 in an aura of youthful optimism and idealism. The crisis with Cuba and the Soviet Union over missile installations just ninety miles from the United States soon sobered that mood. But in Kennedy's thousand days in office, he introduced a civil rights bill, which Congress later passed. That action brought both African-Americans and the entire nation closer to its ideal of freedom for all.
WHO IS ROSA PARKS?
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African-American seamstress and civil rights activist. She was called the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement ".
Parks is most famous for what she did on December 1, 1955. While she sat in a seat at the front of a bus, the bus driver told her to move to the back of the bus so a white passenger could take the seat in the front of the bus. Parks refused to move. She was tired of being treated as a lower class person because of the color of her skin. She was arrested. This led to the Montgomery bus boycott. After that, black people could sit wherever they wanted to on the bus. Her refusal to let others treat her differently was an important symbol in the fight for equal rights.
Parks is most famous for what she did on December 1, 1955. While she sat in a seat at the front of a bus, the bus driver told her to move to the back of the bus so a white passenger could take the seat in the front of the bus. Parks refused to move. She was tired of being treated as a lower class person because of the color of her skin. She was arrested. This led to the Montgomery bus boycott. After that, black people could sit wherever they wanted to on the bus. Her refusal to let others treat her differently was an important symbol in the fight for equal rights.
Boycott
At Crozer Seminary, Martin Luther King had learned about India's great leader Mohandas Gandhi , who had shown the world a new way to fight for an idea. Gandhi, like the American writer Henry David Thoreau, believed that unjust laws could be challenged peacefully with something called civil disobedience. Gandhi led millions of Indians in nonviolent boycotts and marches to protest British rule in India. In Montgomery, King now believes that Gandhi's form of protest can be used to overcome the evil of segregation. Along with other leaders in the black community he calls for a complete boycott of the city buses .
Jo Ann Robinson is a college professor and president of the Women's Political Council in Montgomery. She begins to organize the boycott. To show their solidarity she wants blacks not to ride buses on Monday, the day Rosa Parks will be in court. Robinson and some friends stay up most of the night printing leaflets to hand out in church. They say, "We are asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday. Don't ride the buses to work, to town, to school, or anywhere."
Sunday morning, in their sermons, Montgomery's black ministers urge everyone to stay off the buses . They know that won't be easy. Those who ride the buses are mostly the poorer citizens. They are people who need to get to work. Some are elderly. It is December, and cold. Some can find rides, but many will have to walk miles. And all fear white violence. It is customary to intimidate black people who try to stand up for their rights .
At Crozer Seminary, Martin Luther King had learned about India's great leader Mohandas Gandhi , who had shown the world a new way to fight for an idea. Gandhi, like the American writer Henry David Thoreau, believed that unjust laws could be challenged peacefully with something called civil disobedience. Gandhi led millions of Indians in nonviolent boycotts and marches to protest British rule in India. In Montgomery, King now believes that Gandhi's form of protest can be used to overcome the evil of segregation. Along with other leaders in the black community he calls for a complete boycott of the city buses .
Jo Ann Robinson is a college professor and president of the Women's Political Council in Montgomery. She begins to organize the boycott. To show their solidarity she wants blacks not to ride buses on Monday, the day Rosa Parks will be in court. Robinson and some friends stay up most of the night printing leaflets to hand out in church. They say, "We are asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday. Don't ride the buses to work, to town, to school, or anywhere."
Sunday morning, in their sermons, Montgomery's black ministers urge everyone to stay off the buses . They know that won't be easy. Those who ride the buses are mostly the poorer citizens. They are people who need to get to work. Some are elderly. It is December, and cold. Some can find rides, but many will have to walk miles. And all fear white violence. It is customary to intimidate black people who try to stand up for their rights .
Martin Luther King : I HAVE A DREAM
ESTRATTO DAL DISCORSO : I HAVE A DREAM BY M.L. KING.
-I Have a Dream
Martin Luther King Jr. August 28, 1963
I say to you today, my friends, even though we face the difficulties 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 its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; thal all men are created equal".
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 be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words 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 little white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all the flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith 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 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 father died, land of 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 snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvacious slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring, and when this happens,
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be 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"!
Martin Luther King Jr. August 28, 1963
I say to you today, my friends, even though we face the difficulties 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 its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; thal all men are created equal".
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 be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words 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 little white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all the flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith 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 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 father died, land of 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 snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvacious slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring, and when this happens,
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be 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"!
DISCORSO COMPLETO
I Have a Dream (text) I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, 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 its 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 slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain 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 with which I return to the South. With this faith 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 when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." |
Era il 28 agosto del 1963. A Washington, capitale degli Stati Uniti si teneva “La marcia per il lavoro e la libertà”. Davanti al Lincoln Memorial Center, Martin Luther King tenne un discorso entrato da subito nella leggenda e nella storia dei diritti civili. Aveva di fronte 300 mila persone, la maggior parte delle quali afro americane, il resto però di razza bianca. Tutti lo sentirono dire quella frase che divenne il simbolo della libertà in ogni angolo del mondo ” I have a dream”. Qui la traduzione integrale del discorso e sotto il video dello stesso.
“Sono felice di unirmi a voi in questa che passerà alla storia come la più grande dimostrazione per la libertà nella storia del nostro paese. Cento anni fa un grande americano, alla cui ombra ci leviamo oggi, firmò il Proclama sull’Emancipazione. Questo fondamentale decreto venne come un grande faro di speranza per milioni di schiavi negri che erano stati bruciati sul fuoco dell’avida ingiustizia. Venne come un’alba radiosa a porre termine alla lunga notte della cattività. Ma cento anni dopo, il negro ancora non è libero; cento anni dopo, la vita del negro è ancora purtroppo paralizzata dai ceppi della segregazione e dalle catene della discriminazione; cento anni dopo, il negro ancora vive su un’isola di povertà solitaria in un vasto oceano di prosperità materiale; cento anni dopo; il negro langue ancora ai margini della società americana e si trova esiliato nella sua stessa terra. Per questo siamo venuti qui, oggi, per rappresentare la nostra condizione vergognosa. In un certo senso siamo venuti alla capitale del paese per incassare un assegno. Quando gli architetti della repubblica scrissero le sublimi parole della Costituzione e la Dichiarazione d’Indipendenza, firmarono un “pagherò” del quale ogni americano sarebbe diventato erede. Questo “pagherò” permetteva che tutti gli uomini, si, i negri tanto quanto i bianchi, avrebbero goduto dei principi inalienabili della vita, della libertà e del perseguimento della felicità. E’ ovvio, oggi, che l’America è venuta meno a questo “pagherò” per ciò che riguarda i suoi cittadini di colore. Invece di onorare questo suo sacro obbligo, l’America ha consegnato ai negri un assegno fasullo; un assegno che si trova compilato con la frase: “fondi insufficienti”. Noi ci rifiutiamo di credere che i fondi siano insufficienti nei grandi caveau delle opportunità offerte da questo paese. E quindi siamo venuti per incassare questo assegno, un assegno che ci darà, a presentazione, le ricchezze della libertà e della garanzia di giustizia. Siamo anche venuti in questo santuario per ricordare all’America l’urgenza appassionata dell’adesso. Questo non è il momento in cui ci si possa permettere che le cose si raffreddino o che si trangugi il tranquillante del gradualismo. Questo è il momento di realizzare le promesse della democrazia; questo è il momento di levarsi dall’oscura e desolata valle della segregazione al sentiero radioso della giustizia.; questo è il momento di elevare la nostra nazione dalle sabbie mobili dell’ingiustizia razziale alla solida roccia della fratellanza; questo è il tempo di rendere vera la giustizia per tutti i figli di Dio. Sarebbe la fine per questa nazione se non valutasse appieno l’urgenza del momento. Questa estate soffocante della legittima impazienza dei negri non finirà fino a quando non sarà stato raggiunto un tonificante autunno di libertà ed uguaglianza. Il 1963 non è una fine, ma un inizio. E coloro che sperano che i negri abbiano bisogno di sfogare un poco le loro tensioni e poi se ne staranno appagati, avranno un rude risveglio, se il paese riprenderà a funzionare come se niente fosse successo. Non ci sarà in America né riposo né tranquillità fino a quando ai negri non saranno concessi i loro diritti di cittadini. I turbini della rivolta continueranno a scuotere le fondamenta della nostra nazione fino a quando non sarà sorto il giorno luminoso della giustizia. Ma c’è qualcosa che debbo dire alla mia gente che si trova qui sulla tiepida soglia che conduce al palazzo della giustizia. In questo nostro procedere verso la giusta meta non dobbiamo macchiarci di azioni ingiuste. Cerchiamo di non soddisfare la nostra sete di libertà bevendo alla coppa dell’odio e del risentimento. Dovremo per sempre condurre la nostra lotta al piano alto della dignità e della disciplina. Non dovremo permettere che la nostra protesta creativa degeneri in violenza fisica. Dovremo continuamente elevarci alle maestose vette di chi risponde alla forza fisica con la forza dell’anima. Questa meravigliosa nuova militanza che ha interessato la comunità negra non dovrà condurci a una mancanza di fiducia in tutta la comunità bianca, perché molti dei nostri fratelli bianchi, come prova la loro presenza qui oggi, sono giunti a capire che il loro destino è legato col nostro destino, e sono giunti a capire che la loro libertà è inestricabilmente legata alla nostra libertà. Questa offesa che ci accomuna, e che si è fatta tempesta per le mura fortificate dell’ingiustizia, dovrà essere combattuta da un esercito di due razze. Non possiamo camminare da soli. E mentre avanziamo, dovremo impegnarci a marciare per sempre in avanti. Non possiamo tornare indietro. Ci sono quelli che chiedono a coloro che chiedono i diritti civili: “Quando vi riterrete soddisfatti?” Non saremo mai soddisfatti finché il negro sarà vittima degli indicibili orrori a cui viene sottoposto dalla polizia. Non potremo mai essere soddisfatti finché i nostri corpi, stanchi per la fatica del viaggio, non potranno trovare alloggio nei motel sulle strade e negli alberghi delle città. Non potremo essere soddisfatti finché gli spostamenti sociali davvero permessi ai negri saranno da un ghetto piccolo a un ghetto più grande. Non potremo mai essere soddisfatti finché i nostri figli saranno privati della loro dignità da cartelli che dicono:”Riservato ai bianchi”. Non potremo mai essere soddisfatti finché i negri del Mississippi non potranno votare e i negri di New York crederanno di non avere nulla per cui votare. No, non siamo ancora soddisfatti, e non lo saremo finché la giustizia non scorrerà come l’acqua e il diritto come un fiume possente. Non ha dimenticato che alcuni di voi sono giunti qui dopo enormi prove e tribolazioni. Alcuni di voi sono venuti appena usciti dalle anguste celle di un carcere. Alcuni di voi sono venuti da zone in cui la domanda di libertà ci ha lasciato percossi dalle tempeste della persecuzione e intontiti dalle raffiche della brutalità della polizia. Siete voi i veterani della sofferenza creativa. Continuate ad operare con la certezza che la sofferenza immeritata è redentrice. Ritornate nel Mississippi; ritornate in Alabama; ritornate nel South Carolina; ritornate in Georgia; ritornate in Louisiana; ritornate ai vostri quartieri e ai ghetti delle città del Nord, sapendo che in qualche modo questa situazione può cambiare, e cambierà. Non lasciamoci sprofondare nella valle della disperazione. E perciò, amici miei, vi dico che, anche se dovrete affrontare le asperità di oggi e di domani, io ho sempre davanti a me un sogno. E’ un sogno profondamente radicato nel sogno americano, che un giorno questa nazione si leverà in piedi e vivrà fino in fondo il senso delle sue convinzioni: noi riteniamo ovvia questa verità, che tutti gli uomini sono creati uguali. Io ho davanti a me un sogno, che un giorno sulle rosse colline della Georgia i figli di coloro che un tempo furono schiavi e i figli di coloro che un tempo possedettero schiavi, sapranno sedere insieme al tavolo della fratellanza. Io ho davanti a me un sogno, che un giorno perfino lo stato del Mississippi, uno stato colmo dell’arroganza dell’ingiustizia, colmo dell’arroganza dell’oppressione, si trasformerà in un’oasi di libertà e giustizia. Io ho davanti a me un sogno, che i miei quattro figli piccoli vivranno un giorno in una nazione nella quale non saranno giudicati per il colore della loro pelle, ma per le qualità del loro carattere. Ho davanti a me un sogno, oggi!. Io ho davanti a me un sogno, che un giorno ogni valle sarà esaltata, ogni collina e ogni montagna saranno umiliate, i luoghi scabri saranno fatti piani e i luoghi tortuosi raddrizzati e la gloria del Signore si mostrerà e tutti gli essere viventi, insieme, la vedranno. E’ questa la nostra speranza. Questa è la fede con la quale io mi avvio verso il Sud. Con questa fede saremo in grado di strappare alla montagna della disperazione una pietra di speranza. Con questa fede saremo in grado di trasformare le stridenti discordie della nostra nazione in una bellissima sinfonia di fratellanza. Con questa fede saremo in grado di lavorare insieme, di pregare insieme, di lottare insieme, di andare insieme in carcere, di difendere insieme la libertà, sapendo che un giorno saremo liberi. Quello sarà il giorno in cui tutti i figli di Dio sapranno cantare con significati nuovi: paese mio, di te, dolce terra di libertà, di te io canto; terra dove morirono i miei padri, terra orgoglio del pellegrino, da ogni pendice di montagna risuoni la libertà; e se l’America vuole essere una grande nazione possa questo accadere. Risuoni quindi la libertà dalle poderose montagne dello stato di New York. Risuoni la libertà negli alti Allegheny della Pennsylvania. Risuoni la libertà dalle Montagne Rocciose del Colorado, imbiancate di neve. Risuoni la libertà dai dolci pendii della California. Ma non soltanto. Risuoni la libertà dalla Stone Mountain della Georgia. Risuoni la libertà dalla Lookout Mountain del Tennessee. Risuoni la libertà da ogni monte e monticello del Mississippi. Da ogni pendice risuoni la libertà. E quando lasciamo risuonare la libertà, quando le permettiamo di risuonare da ogni villaggio e da ogni borgo, da ogni stato e da ogni città, acceleriamo anche quel giorno in cui tutti i figli di Dio, neri e bianchi, ebrei e gentili, cattolici e protestanti, sapranno unire le mani e cantare con le parole del vecchio spiritual: “Liberi finalmente, liberi finalmente; grazie Dio Onnipotente, siamo liberi finalmente”. |
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