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Guest column

Dream's power still calls us to action

By JACK LEVINE
Published January 15, 2006

It was late August, 1963. I was 12. I remember my father calling me into his room. The radio was on, and I heard cheering. It was not a baseball game kind of cheer . . . it seemed louder and longer.

My dad, age 72 and blind, pointed in the direction of the radio with one hand and put his other index finger to his lips - he was telling me to be quiet, and to listen.

Next I heard the voice. A combination of speech and singing. The cadence was like none I ever heard. The word-music rose and fell, the power like a wave, swelling and then resting, soon to rise again.

My father's blind eyes were shining in the window light. He was tearful, his lips pursed, his head gently nodding in agreement. Seeing him so moved gave me the sense that history was being made, there in that sun-bathed room, in the sound of that voice, the power of persuasion. I never saw my father so attentive. All of his energy was focused on listening to the words. He slowly nodded to their cadence.

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.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech commanded the attention of not only the half-million who gathered in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln's statue that day, but touched the hearts and minds of a nation to pay attention and take action.

That speech on that sweltering August day ignited a charge of energy that would not be stopped - not by gushing fire hoses, biting dogs, enraged threats, bombs or snipers' bullets. At the tender age of 35, that eloquent preacher from Atlanta set in motion a set of individual and collective actions that would change how people viewed not only our neighbors, but ourselves. The impact of that leader's courage was felt not only in the tumultuous decade of the 1960s, but for generations to come.

The ideals of Dr. King's mission were rooted in his Christian faith; his operating principles and techniques were borrowed from Gandhi. But no matter what our faith, race, ethnicity, gender or age, the vision of Dr. King is a beacon for us all.

In the 11-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled more than 6-million miles and spoke more than 2,500 times, appearing wherever there was injustice to be protested and action to be taken. Martin Luther King Jr. was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. His life was cut short at age 39 by an assassin's bullet in April 1968.

Has all that Dr. King envisioned come to pass? Not yet. Has his legacy brought forth a tremendous surge of change in attitude, law and economic opportunity? Yes. But there's so much still to be accomplished. Justice is not static; it's active, and must be actively asserted and strictly guarded every day.

Progress is not achieved by intention alone. Strategic advocacy is the only way wrongs can be righted and ideas can be transformed into action.

Jack Levine of Tallahassee is president of Advocacy Resources.

To read the full text of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech on your computer, go to http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/popular_requests/ and click on "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."

[Last modified January 15, 2006, 01:47:20]