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Written by Paul Walker
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Monday, 18 January 2010 10:52 |
Today is the celebrating of the birth of civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. and I find it fitting to offer my own "I have A Dream" commentary post here in his honor. I don't pretend to know Dr. King's full intentions, but I will do my best to take a fair guess at what he believed. It's a shame the world we live in today and the struggle we still have based on race and color.
I have a dream that one day all citizens of this great nation will be treated as equals and that we will live up to our creed that: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day all patriots of this great nation wishing to seek work will not be judged based on their gender or color, nor will the question dare be asked of what they consider themselves to be.
I have a dream today that one day in the near future women and men will no longer have to tell their employer embarrassing facts about their financial situation. That the fact they fell on hard times and had to receive government assistance matters today means we are unequal and this must change.
I have a dream that just because citizens of this great nation were the victim of a disaster in the great city of New Orleans, that we can let these people move on and not have them as a special class of citizens when they fill our their employment application.
I dream of a day when organizations like the NAACP will no longer be relevant and we can have the "National Association For The Advancement of American Citizens." Why a group only plays to colored people today just shows of the great distance we still have to travel to make sure all men are created equal.
I have a dream that students entering university are admitted solely on merritt and not because of some quota their state requires for groups considered to be minorities. We do our children a great injustice in education and in our future as a nation with such requirements.
I have a dream that one day political parties will no longer pit races against one another just so they can advance their agenda. No longer will they be using people's own weakness against them. No longer will they take advantage of a lack of education rather than taking the time to help educate the people who possibly need their help the most. This great disservice to human beings, just so they can gain power is truly sad that it takes place in this nation still today.
We are all brothers and sisters in this great nation. We are people who bleed the same shade of red. We are all people who must eat food and drink water to stay healthy. We are all citizens of a great nation that continues to be put at odds by those who might benefit from such in-fighting.
It's time that we stand up. It's time to say NO to those who would dare try and still try to segregate us in their own way. We must fight back and say, "We Are All Americans and we demand to be treated equally."
There are no second-class citizens and there is not one of us that isn't capable of fighting for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our color does not matter in these things and we all have the same great oppurtunity in being born in such a great nation.
My dream is not naive and I encourage each and every one of you today to stand up for your fellow citizens and demand the change needed to end the segregation we still have on this day. This is not only my dream, it's the American dream and one that we can all look forward to.
I share this dream I have with you today to make it no longer a dream, but the reality it so deserves to be to make our great nation what it was destined to be.
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