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'I have a dream' immortalised
23/08/2003 14:11 - (SA)
Washington - Forty years ago, the rousing words of Martin Luther King jun's "I have a dream" speech rang out across the National Mall in Washington. Today, those words are part of the mall itself.
At a small ceremony on Friday, King's widow, Coretta Scott King, and other dignitaries unveiled a simple memorial to the speech and the speaker who jarred the conscience of the United States and the world.
These words are etched into the marble of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the exact spot where King stood that day: "I have a dream. Martin Luther King jun. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. August 28, 1963."
Thousands of people were expected to attend rallies and speeches on Saturday marking the 40th anniversary of King's speech in downtown Washington.
When King spoke on August 28 1963, 250 000 people, one-fifth of them white, had turned out for the march on Washington.
At the time, many blacks could not vote. Others were murdered for trying. Blacks and whites often could not use the same restaurants, toilets or hotels.
Slavery abolished 100 years earlier
The speech capped years of a non-violent civil rights movement across the United States south where race segregation was sharpest.
"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'," King said, standing below the gigantic statue of the US president who had abolished slavery 100 years earlier.
"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
"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."
Assassinated on motel balcony
The black preacher's voice rose and fell in the sweltering August heat - a cadence now immediately recognisable to any American schoolchild.
In 1964, he would win the Nobel Peace Prize. On April 4, 1968, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of a motel room in Memphis, Tennessee.
Today, many American blacks are still struggling for access to the equality and justice King sought.
"Forty years later, problems that should have been addressed have actually gotten worse," said Martin Luther King III, 45, one of the organisers of a march expected to bring out thousands on Saturday to commemorate King's speech.
King, who heads the Southern Christian Leadership Conference his father founded, voiced concerns that poverty, health care and joblessness remained serious problems still to be overcome.
Many are in the top spots
"We have come a very long way in many, many respects," said Hermann Schwartz, law professor and author of numerous articles on race relations in the United States.
Today, many US blacks have solidly entered the middle class or above.
They can be found at the helm of universities, newspapers and other organizations, and are a political force that must be reckoned with.
Blacks are seen in the highest ranks of government, such as secretary of state Colin Powell and national security advisor Condoleezza Rice. A black judge, Clarence Thomas, sits on the US supreme court.
Blacks are present in growing numbers in congress (39 in 2000 as against 10 in 1970) and as mayors (451 in 2000 against 49 in 1970).
Black actors Halle Berry and Denzel Washington swept the Oscars in 2002, and athletes like Tiger Woods and sisters Serena and Venus Williams have reached the ranks of the superstar elites.
"Nobody could have imagined that, 50 years ago, given the kind of country we were," said Schwartz.
But, serious problems and barriers remain.
One in six black men aged 25 to 29 is in prison, a startling statistic that far outpaces figures for other races.
Blacks are also far more likely to be poor in the United States, with 22.7% living beneath the poverty line, against 11.7% for whites.
"The racial disparities remain very, very severe," said Schwartz.
- AFP
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