What would Martin Luther King Jr. say about the Open Government Directive? Are we on the right path?

“I Have A Dream”

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
August 28, 1963

“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. 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.’ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.”

“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. I have a dream today¼I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with the little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.”

Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last!

“This hope is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the south with. And 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 work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”

“…And so let freedom ring, from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring

And when we allow freedom to ring – when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.”

Source: www.thekingcenter.org/mlk/bio.html

Leave a Comment

3 Comments

Leave a Reply

Andrew Krzmarzick

Thinking that Dr. King would applaud the efforts for government to be more open and transparent so as to break a culture of secrecy and cynicism and empower people to understand and participate more effectively in our democracy.

Keith Moore

On the month that the nation celebrates Black History Month, I think Dr. King would be proud of the Open Government Directive and the TEAM in place to help the US government shape the OGD plan moving forward under our country’s first African American President. Furthermore, I believe Dr. King would be overjoyed that the TEAM chose the first OGD workshop to be held in the basement of the MLK library in Washington DC, and today’s workshop in The Charles Sumner School to have its third Open Government Directive workshop

How historic, commemorative, and inspiring. We invite you too to….

discover local art and history in this landmark 1872 school building, which graduated the first high school class for African Americans in 1877. The Sumner School was named for US Senator Charles Sumner, an outspoken advocate for integration, especially in education. Designed by Washington architect Adolf Cluss, the structure received an award for design in 1873 at the Vienna Exposition.
This historic building, steeped in African American heritage, housed the headquarters for Superintendent and Board of Trustees for Colored Public Schools of Washington and Georgetown. At one time it housed the early high school that later became M Street High School and eventually, the highly regarded Dunbar High School.

The Charles Sumner School is an appealing museum, which also houses the DC Public School archives. It was renovated to a “modernized Norman style” in 1984-85. Permanent exhibits include extensive DC public school memorabilia and sculptural vignettes that capture the life and times of Frederick Douglass.

For more information: http://www.k12.dc.us/dcps/home.html
At DCPS website, click on About DCPS, then choose DCPS History.