This is not an ordinary article, this is a tribute of appreciation and gratefulness to every pair of legs that walked, to every ear that heard, every eye that witnessed, every voice spoken to the movement of the bound Negro, to the recitation of our entity, to the humbling of the White man’s ego. The following is poetic commentary to excerpts of one of the greatest speeches known to man:

With highlighter yellow, I mark the speech as though it is interview material, listening to the words of Dr. Martin Luther King’s voice in the back of mind while reading over it. I love the way he starts off. As humble as one could be, Dr. King begins with, “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.”

Envisioning the impact that his speech would have on the world, he speaks life to its reputation in confidence. Slavery supposedly being abolished, Dr. King paints the picture of reality,

“But one hundred years later, the Negro still is 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 languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.”

Rightfully so, he magnifies the conditions of his people, my people, our people. Lies of society binded the liberation of innocent souls, captivated minds and murdered peace. So how did Jim Crow overrule the note, “This note was a promise that all men, yes, Black men as well as White men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Hell, Jim Crow wrote the note! So unfortunately Black men being guaranteed “unalienable rights”, wasn’t the case; often times promises and signatures seemed to have the sole purpose of telling the people what they wanted to hear. While to some that may be morally wrong, it didn’t matter because Negroes had no say, and their feelings, meant nothing, better yet, they didn’t exist.

“Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.”

Negroes have been broke ever since. Left with the maxed out credit card because there wasn’t enough for us. Along with insufficient funds, we were insufficiently humane, leaving them reason to treat us as such, even though freedom was declared and slavery abolished. Metaphorically, physical chains weren’t needed because hateful vernacular bonded spirits in itself, but faith and hope prevailed.

Black people are stereotyped as being violent and this is the key. “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.”

Dr. King is like a coach in the locker room preparing his team for the second half. Only this game was never a game ’cause games end, and while this is life and it eventually ends, once a body is liberated, no bondage can bind its potential. At the moment of liberation, posture is altered and footsteps are made with a different beat behind it, with a voice of revolution, singing in a melody of intimacy. Simply making love to the modification of life.

“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.”

So I end in this, my dream is that his will not live on in vain; that every descendant of every activist and enthusiast will continue to live in the dream of equality. Also, that Blacks keep the perception of a unified body, with the power the people of the Civil Rights movement contained; there should never be a reason for segregation within a race.

He had a dream, we are the dream, so let’s live it, breathe it and watch its life be everlasting.