In honor of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, I found a podcast of his I have Dream Speech and listened to it again.
If you have not actually listened to this speech, in his own voice, you really owe it to yourself to listen to it, all the way through. Sixteen minutes of some of the most beautiful words that have ever been written in pursuit of justice.
The first time I read it was in a creative writing class in college. My professor wanted us to study it for the poetry, and she arranged us in a circle and we began to read it, a paragraph at a time. I could not stop weeping, and I never can listen to it without thinking of what power there is in words. In his voice. In WORDS, man, WORDS.
Seriously, in honor of the day, go listen to it here.
Thanks for the inspiration to go back and listen to this speech again. I think the last time I listened to it through was in college. I found a video of the original on YouTube and was inspired not only by the words, but by the power of the images of all those people there, achieving a better world along with Dr. King. Here’s hoping for more of that in 2008.
My family and I saw The Great Debaters on Christmas Day. I was profoundly moved by this film and it’s celebration of the power of WORDS. The power of our minds to make change happen. I am not a person who cries at movies, in fact I can count on one hand the movies that have moved me to tears. This movie is now on the list. There were several moments where my heart just swelled up into my chest, pushing tears up into my throat, from sheer joy and pride in the WORDS the actors were saying. When the young woman gives her debate speech about why black students should be allowed into white colleges, and she says, with emotion choking her voice, “the time for justice is ALWAYS, ALWAYS right now!” I could barely breathe. “Words are our weapons.” Words are also instruments of peace, and love, and reconciliation, and truth.
Beautiful, Melissa. Yes, more of that in 2008 please.
Gail, I am off to find that movie right now. What a beautiful post. Thank you.