当地时间2013年8月24日，美国华盛顿，美国十万民众集会纪念马丁·路德·金发表著名演说《我有一个梦想》50周年。
Thank you very much. Thank you. Please be seated.Anearthquake and a hurricane may have delayed this day, but this is a day thatwould not be denied. 非常感谢大家。谢谢大家。请就座。虽然这个日子可能因地震和飓风来袭而推迟，但这一天不可阻挡。 For this day, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'sreturn to the National Mall. In this place, he will stand for all time, amongmonuments to those who fathered this nation and those who defended it; a black preacher with no official rank ortitle who somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams and our most lasting ideals,a man who stirred our conscience and thereby helped make our union moreperfect. 在这一天，我们欢庆马丁·路德·金博士重返国家大草坪。在这个地方，他将永远矗立在纪念这个国家的缔造者和捍卫者的丰碑中间；一位没有正式官衔或名号、却能说出我们心底最深处的梦想和我们持久不变的理想的黑人牧师，一位唤醒了我们的良知、从而帮助我们的合众国变得更加完美的人。 And Dr. King would be the first to remind us that thismemorial is not for him alone. The movement of which he was a part depended onan entire generation of leaders. Many are here today, and for their service andtheir sacrifice, we owe them our everlasting gratitude. This is a monument toyour collective achievement. 而金博士会首先提醒我们，这座纪念碑并不属于他一个人。他参加过的那场运动所依靠的是整整一代领袖人物。其中很多人今天在座，我们对他们的服务和奉献永远感激不尽。这是一座纪念你们的集体业绩的丰碑。 Some giants of the civil rights movement –- like RosaParks and Dorothy Height, Benjamin Hooks, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth –-they've been taken from us these past few years. This monument attests to theirstrength and their courage, and while we miss them dearly, we know they rest ina better place. 民权运动的几位巨人——如罗莎·帕克斯（Rosa Parks）、多萝西·海特（Dorothy Height）、本杰明·胡克斯（Benjamin Hooks）和弗雷德•沙特尔斯沃思牧师（Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth）等人——几年来相继离开了我们。这座纪念碑是他们的力量和勇气的见证，我们深深地怀念他们，但我们也知道他们长眠在一个更好的地方。 And finally, there are the multitudes of men and womenwhose names never appear in the history books –- those who marched and thosewho sang, those who sat in and those who stood firm, those who organized andthose who mobilized –- all those men and women who through countless acts ofquiet heroism helped bring about changes few thought were even possible."By the thousands," said Dr. King, "faceless, anonymous, relentless young people, black andwhite…have taken our whole nation back to those great wells of democracy whichwere dug deep by the founding fathers in the formulation of the Constitutionand the Declaration of Independence." To those men and women, to those footsoldiers for justice, know that this monument is yours, as well. 最后，还有名字从未被载入史册的众多男女志士——他们曾游行示威和高声唱诵，他们曾静坐抗议和岿然挺立，他们曾组织和动员民众——所有这些男女志士都通过胜不胜数的默默无闻的英勇行动帮助实现了大多数人认为不可能实现的变革。金博士曾说：“成千上万名默默无闻的、不知姓名的、坚持不懈的黑人和白人青年……带领我们整个国家回到了建国先父们在起草宪法和独立宣言的过程中深掘而成的伟大的民主源头。”男女志士们，为正义而战的普通斗士们，这座纪念碑也属于你们。 Nearly half a century has passed since that historicMarch on Washington,a day when thousands upon thousands gathered for jobs and for freedom. That iswhat our schoolchildren remember best when they think of Dr. King -– his boomingvoice across this Mall, calling on America to make freedom a reality for all ofGod's children, prophesizing of a day when the jangling discord of our nationwould be transformed into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. 华盛顿那次具有历史意义的游行集会已经是近半个世纪以前的事了，那一天有成千上万的人汇集起来要求得到工作机会、要求得到自由。我们的中小学生们一想到金博士便会想到他那洪亮的声音回荡在大草坪上，呼吁美国将上帝所有子孙都享有自由变成现实，预见有一天我国喋喋不休的争执将会变成兄弟情谊的美丽合谐之音。 It is right that we honor that march, that we lift up Dr.King's "I Have a Dream" speech –- for without that shining moment,without Dr. King's glorious words, we might not have had the courage to come asfar as we have. Because of that hopeful vision, because of Dr. King's moralimagination, barricades began to fall and bigotry began to fade. New doors ofopportunity swung open for an entire generation. Yes, laws changed, but heartsand minds changed, as well. 我们应该纪念那场游行集会，我们应该仰慕金博士《我有一个梦想》的演说——因为倘若没有那个闪光的时刻，没有金博士光辉的言词，我们可能就不会有勇气取得如此长足的进步。正是因为有了那个充满希望的构想，正是因为有金博士的道义憧憬，屏障才开始倒塌，偏见才开始消退。新的机遇之门才向整整一代人敞开。的确，法律改变了，但人心和头脑也改变了。 Look at the faces here around you, and you see an Americathat is more fair and more free and more just than the one Dr. King addressedthat day. We are right to savor that slow but certain progress -– progressthat's expressed itself in a million ways, large and small, across this nationevery single day, as people of all colors and creeds live together, and worktogether, and fight alongside one another, and learn together, and buildtogether, and love one another. 看看你身边的面孔，你会看到美国比金博士那天讲话所面对的更加公平、更加自由、更加公正。我们应该细细品味这缓慢但确实的进步——通过百万种方式体现出来的大大小小进步，每天遍及全国各地，各种肤色和信仰的人们生活在一起，工作在一起，并肩奋斗，共同学习，共同建设，彼此相爱。 So it is right for us to celebrate today Dr. King's dreamand his vision of unity. And yet it is also important on this day to remindourselves that such progress did not come easily; that Dr. King's faith washard-won; that it sprung out of a harsh reality and some bitterdisappointments. 所以，我们今天应该纪念金博士的梦想和他团结的愿景。但我们也需要在这一天提醒自己，让我们记住这些进步来之不易；金博士的信念是靠奋斗树立起来；它源于严酷的现实和一些沉痛的失望。 So it is right for us to celebrate today Dr. King's dreamand his vision of unity. And yet it is also important on this day to remindourselves that such progress did not come easily; that Dr. King's faith washard-won; that it sprung out of a harsh reality and some bitterdisappointments. It is right for us to celebrate Dr. King's marvelous oratory,but it is worth remembering that progress did not come from words alone.Progress was hard. Progress was purchased through enduring the smack of billyclubs and the blast of fire hoses. It was bought with days in jail cells andnights of bomb threats. For every victory during the height of the civil rightsmovement, there were setbacks and there were defeats. 所以，我们今天应该纪念金博士的梦想和他团结的愿景。但我们也需要在这一天提醒自己，让我们记住这些进步来之不易；金博士的信念是靠奋斗树立起来；它源于严酷的现实和一些沉痛的失望。我们应该弘扬金博士光辉的演说，但值得记住的是，进步并不仅靠言辞。进步是艰苦的。进步是通过顶住警棍的殴打和消防水龙的喷射而换取的，进步是以牢笼度日和鸡蛋夜袭威胁为代价而得到的。民权运动高潮中的每一个胜利，都有挫折、有失败。 We forget now, but during his life, Dr. King wasn'talways considered a unifying figure. Even after rising to prominence, evenafter winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. King was vilified by many, denouncedas a rabble rouser and an agitator, a communist and a radical. He was evenattacked by his own people, by those who felt he was going too fast or thosewho felt he was going too slow; by those who felt he shouldn't meddle in issueslike the Vietnam War or the rights of union workers. We know from his own testimony the doubts and the painthis caused him, and that the controversy that would swirl around his actionswould last until the fateful day he died. 现在我们不记得了，但在他的有生之年，金博士并不是总被视为一个团结的形象。即使后来声望显赫，甚至在获得诺贝尔和平奖后，金博士仍受到许多人诬蔑，他被称作乌合之众的煽动者、挑唆者、共产主义分子和激进分子。他甚至受到自己人的攻击，他们有的人觉得他走得太快，有的人认为他走得太慢；他们有的人认为他不应该插手越南战争或工会工人权利这样的问题。我们从他自己的证词中知道这曾给他带来疑惑和痛苦，这些围绕他行动的争议持续到他去世的最后那一天。 I raise all this because nearly 50 years after the Marchon Washington,our work, Dr. King's work, is not yet complete. We gather here at a moment ofgreat challenge and great change. In the first decade of this new century, wehave been tested by war and by tragedy; by an economic crisis and its aftermaththat has left millions out of work, and poverty on the rise, and millions morejust struggling to get by. Indeed, even before this crisis struck, we hadendured a decade of rising inequality and stagnant wages. In too many troubledneighborhoods across the country, the conditions of our poorest citizens appearlittle changed from what existed 50 years ago -– neighborhoods with underfundedschools and broken-down slums, inadequate health care, constant violence,neighborhoods in which too many young people grow up with little hope and fewprospects for the future. 我讲到这一切，是因为华盛顿大游行近50年之后，我们的工作，金博士的工作，尚未完成。我们聚集在这里，正值一个充满巨大挑战和巨大变化的时刻。在这个新世纪的第一个10年，我们受到了战争和悲剧的考验；经济危机及其后果使百万民众失业，贫困在上升，还有数百万的人在挣扎度日。事实上，这场危机发生之前，我们就经历了10年日益严重的不平等和工资停滞。在全国为数太多的困难社区，我们最贫穷的公民的状况比50年前几乎没什么变化——这些地方学校资金匮乏，存在着破烂的贫民窟，没有足够的医疗服务，暴力频发，有太多的年轻人长大没有希望，未来没有前途。 Our work is not done. And so on this day, in which wecelebrate a man and a movement that did so much for this country, let us drawstrength from those earlier struggles. First and foremost, let us remember thatchange has never been quick. Change has never been simple, or without controversy. Change depends onpersistence. Change requires determination. It took a full decade before themoral guidance of Brown v. Board of Education was translated into theenforcement measures of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, butthose 10 long years did not lead Dr. King to give up. He kept on pushing, hekept on speaking, he kept on marching until change finally came. And then when,even after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act passed, African Americansstill found themselves trapped in pockets of poverty across the country, Dr.King didn't say those laws were a failure; he didn't say this is too hard; hedidn't say, let's settle for what we got and go home. Instead he said, let'stake those victories and broaden our mission to achieve not just civil andpolitical equality but also economic justice; let's fight for a living wage andbetter schools and jobs for all who are willing to work. In other words, whenmet with hardship, when confronting disappointment, Dr. King refused to acceptwhat he called the "isness" of today. He kept pushing towards the"oughtness" of tomorrow. 我们的工作尚未完成。因此，在这一天，在纪念为这个国家奉献如此之多的一个人和一场运动之际，让我们从这些早期斗争中汲取力量。首先，让我们记住变化从来不会瞬间到来。变化从来不是简单或毫无争议的。改变取决于坚持不懈。改变需要决心。《布朗诉教育委员会》（Brown v. Board ofEducation）一案的道义指南经历了整整10年才转换为《民权法案》（Civil Rights Act）和《投票权法》（Voting Rights Act）的实施措施，但是金博士并没有因这漫长的10年而放弃。他不停地推动，他不停地疾呼，他不停地前进，直到最终实现改变。后来，甚至在《民权法案》和《投票权法》通过之后，非裔美国人仍然发现自己被困在全国各地的贫困地区，金博士没有说这是法律失败，他没有说这实在太难，他没有说，让我们满足已有的收获，就此结束。相反，他说，让我们运用这些胜利，拓宽我们的使命，不只实现公民权利和政治上的平等，而且还有经济上的公正；让我们为谋生的工资、更好的学校和为一切愿意工作的人的就业机会而奋斗。换句话说，当遇到艰难时，当面对失望时，金博士拒绝接受他称之为“如是“（isness）的今天。他不停地推动实现“应然”（oughtness）的明天。 And so, as we think about all the work that we must do –-rebuilding an economy that can compete on a global stage, and fixing ourschools so that every child -- not just some, but every child -- gets aworld-class education, and making sure that our health care system isaffordable and accessible to all, and that our economic system is one in whicheverybody gets a fair shake and everybody does their fair share, let us not betrapped by what is. We can't be discouraged by what is. We've got to keeppushing for what ought to be, the America we ought to leave to our children,mindful that the hardships we face are nothing compared to those Dr. King andhis fellow marchers faced 50 years ago, and that if we maintain our faith, inourselves and in the possibilities of this nation, there is no challenge wecannot surmount.And just as we draw strength from Dr. King's struggles, so mustwe draw inspiration from his constant insistence on the oneness of man; thebelief in his words that "we are caught in an inescapable network ofmutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny." It was that insistence,rooted in his Christian faith, that led him to tell a group of angry youngprotesters, "I love you as I love my own children," even as one threwa rock that glanced off his neck. 所以，在我们思考我们必须做的各项工作的时候——重建一个可以在全球舞台上竞争的经济，修整我们的学校，使每一个孩子——不仅仅是某些，而是每个孩子——获得世界一流的教育，确保我们的医疗制度让所有人负担得起、享用得上，让我们的经济体系使每个人都得到公平的利益，每个人都尽自己应尽的力量，让我们不要被困于现状。我们不能因为现状而气馁。我们必须不断推动争取应然和我们应留予子孙的美国，并且记住，我们所面对的艰辛，比起金博士和与他一起游行的同胞50年前所面对的，微不足道，如果我们保持坚定的信念，相信我们自己，相信这个国家的潜能，就没有我们不能克服的挑战。就像我们从金博士的奋斗汲取力量一样，我们也要从他对人类一体的坚定不移获得启示；他曾说“我们都罩在一张无可逃避的共同网络中，命云交织，休戚与共。”正是那份根植于基督教信仰的坚持，使他对一群愤怒的年轻抗议者说：“我爱你们如同爱我自己的孩子，”尽管其中一人向他投石头，险些击中他的脖颈。 It was that insistence, that belief that God resides ineach of us, from the high to the low, in the oppressor and the oppressed, thatconvinced him that people and systems could change. It fortified his belief innon-violence. It permitted him to place his faith in a government that hadfallen short of its ideals. It led him to see his charge not only as freeingblack America from the shackles of discrimination, but also freeing manyAmericans from their own prejudices, and freeing Americans of every color fromthe depredations of poverty.And so at this moment, when our politics appear sosharply polarized, and faith in our institutions so greatly diminished, we needmore than ever to take heed of Dr. King's teachings. He calls on us to stand inthe other person's shoes; to see through their eyes; to understand their pain.He tells us that we have a duty to fight against poverty, even if we are welloff; to care about the child in the decrepit school even if our own childrenare doing fine; to show compassion toward the immigrant family, with theknowledge that most of us are only a few generations removed from similarhardships. 正是这种坚持，相信无论高低贵贱，是压迫者还是受压迫者，上帝都存在我们每个人心中，使他相信人和体制是可以改变的。它加强了他对非暴力的信念，使他对一个未能实现其理想的政府抱有信心。它使他看到自己的使命不只是将美国黑人从歧视的枷锁下解放出来，而且也是将美国人从自己的偏见中解放出来，并使各种肤色的美国人挣脱贫穷的桎梏。因此，在这个我们的政情似乎尖锐地两极化，人民对我们体制的信心大幅动摇的时刻，我们比以往更需要记取金博士的教诲。他呼吁我们设身处地为别人着想；以他们的视角看世界；理解他们的痛苦。他告诉我们有责任消除贫穷，即使我们自身富裕；关怀破败学校内的学童，即使我们的孩子安康；对移民家庭寄予同情，深知我们大多数人几代前也身处此境。 To say that we are bound together as one people, and mustconstantly strive to see ourselves in one another, is not to argue for a falseunity that papers over our differences and ratifies an unjust status quo. Aswas true 50 years ago, as has been true throughout human history, those withpower and privilege will often decry any call for change as"divisive." They'll say any challenge to the existing arrangementsare unwise and destabilizing. Dr. King understood that peace without justicewas no peace at all; that aligning our reality with our ideals often requiresthe speaking of uncomfortable truths and the creative tension of non-violentprotest.But he also understood that to bring about true and lasting change,there must be the possibility of reconciliation; that any social movement hasto channel this tension through the spirit of love and mutuality. 说我们是同是彼此关联的一个国家的人民并且必须努力彼此认同理解，并不是主张一种虚假的统一性，掩饰我们之间的差异和认可不公正的现状。就像50 年前一样，就像整个人类历史一样，当权当势者通常会将变革的呼声斥为“分裂”。任何对现状的挑战都会被他们说成是不智之举，会造成动荡不安。金博士理解，没有正义的和平绝非和平；要使现实与我们的理想相吻合，往往就需要说出令人不快的真相，需要有非暴力抗议带来的富于创造性的压力。但是，他也理解，为了带来真实而持久的变革，必须有和解的可能；任何社会运动都必须通过爱与互协的精神来化解这种压力。 If he were alive today, I believe he would remind us thatthe unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street withoutdemonizing all who work there; that the businessman can enter toughnegotiations with his company's union without vilifying the right tocollectively bargain. He would want us to know we can argue fiercely about theproper size and role of government without questioning each other's love forthis country with the knowledge that in this democracy, government is nodistant object but is rather an expression of our common commitments to oneanother. He would call on us to assume the best in each other rather than theworst, and challenge one another in ways that ultimately heal rather thanwound.In the end, that's what I hope my daughters take away from this monument.I want them to come away from here with a faith in what they can accomplishwhen they are determined and working for a righteous cause. I want them to comeaway from here with a faith in other people and a faith in a benevolent God.This sculpture, massive and iconic as it is, will remind them of Dr. King'sstrength, but to see him only as larger than life would do a disservice to whathe taught us about ourselves. He would want them to know that he had setbacks,because they will have setbacks. He would want them to know that he had doubts,because they will have doubts. He would want them to know that he was flawed,because all of us have flaws. 如果他今天仍然在世，我相信他会提醒我们，失业的劳工可以质疑华尔街的贪婪过度，但不会将那里的所有雇员妖魔化；商人可以和其公司的工会进行强硬的谈判，但不会诋毁集体交易的权利。他会让我们知道，我们可以对政府的规模和作用开展激烈的争辩，但不会质疑彼此对国家的热爱，知道在民主体制中，政府并非一个遥远的物体，而是我们对彼此的共同承诺的表现形式。他会呼吁我们相信彼此最好的一面，而非最坏的一面，并且以最终能愈合而非伤害的方式挑战彼此。这是我希望我的女儿们通过这座纪念碑所领会的最终含义。我希望，当她们离开这里的时候怀有对自己的信念，即她们只要有决心去为一桩正义的事业努力，就能获得成功。我还希望，当她们离开这里的时候怀有对他人的信念，对仁慈的上帝的信念。这座宏伟的、令人崇敬的雕塑将使她们记住金博士的力量，但是，仅仅把他当作伟人敬奉就会违背他关于我们如何认识自己的教诲。他会希望她们知道他曾经遭受挫折，因为她们也会遭受挫折。他会希望她们知道他曾经有过动摇，因为她们也会经历动摇。他会希望她们知道他有缺陷，因为我们所有的人都有缺陷。 It is precisely because Dr. King was a man of flesh andblood and not a figure of stone that he inspires us so. His life, his story,tells us that change can come if you don't give up. He would not give up, nomatter how long it took, because in the smallest hamlets and the darkest slums,he had witnessed the highest reaches of the human spirit; because in thosemoments when the struggle seemed most hopeless, he had seen men and women andchildren conquer their fear; because he had seen hills and mountains made lowand rough places made plain, and the crooked places made straight and God makea way out of no way.It is precisely because Dr. King was a man of flesh andblood and not a figure of stone that he inspires us so. His life, his story,tells us that change can come if you don't give up. He would not give up, nomatter how long it took, because in the smallest hamlets and the darkest slums,he had witnessed the highest reaches of the human spirit; because in thosemoments when the struggle seemed most hopeless, he had seen men and women andchildren conquer their fear; because he had seen hills and mountains made lowand rough places made plain, and the crooked places made straight and God makea way out of no way. 正因为金博士是有血有肉的一个人，而不是一座石像，他才对我们具有如此巨大的感召力。他的生活和他的故事告诉我们，只要锲而不舍，变化就会来临。他不会放弃，哪怕是旷日持久，因为在最小的村庄和最黑暗的贫民窟中，他曾经见证人类精神可及的高度；因为在那些似乎挣扎无望的时刻，他曾看到男女老少战胜自己的恐惧；还因为他曾目睹山峦丘壑被迫低头，凸凹变平原，曲路化坦途，上帝在茫茫旷野中开出路来。这就是我们纪念他的原因——因为他对我们满怀信心。这就是他属于这座广场的原因——因为他看到我们会成为什么样的人。这就是金博士代表了美国精神的原因——因为尽管我们历尽磨难，尽管我们的历史上有悲剧，但我们始终保持乐观，成就事业，积极进取，这种经历在世界上独一无二。这也是为什么世界上其他国家依然期待美国发挥领导作用的原因。在这个国家中，普通人能够靠心中的勇气做非凡之举；有勇气面对最顽固的阻力和绝望，明辨是非，坚持正义；我们不会接受那些冷眼旁观者作出的裁判，而会突破艰难险阻，为我们所知有可能成就的事业坚持努力，永不放弃。 That is the conviction we must carry now in our hearts.As tough as times may be, I know we will overcome. I know there are better daysahead. I know this because of the man towering over us. I know this because allhe and his generation endured -- we are here today in a country that dedicateda monument to that legacy. And so with our eyes on the horizon and our faithsquarely placed in one another, let us keep striving; let us keep struggling;let us keep climbing toward that promised land of a nation and a world that ismore fair, and more just, and more equal for every single child of God.Thankyou, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. 这就是我们现在必须怀有的信念。尽管面临一个十分困难的时期，我知道我们一定会赢得胜利。我知道好日子还在前头。我知道这一切是因为我们身边的这位巨人。我知道这一切是因为他和他那一代人的曲折经历——我们今天在这个国家中为这项业绩树立一座丰碑。 因此，让我们放眼未来，让我们彼此以信心相待，奋力向前；让我们不懈拼搏，朝向那片神赐的土地持续攀登，那里是一个对上帝的每一个子民都更公平、更公正、更平等的国度与世界。谢谢各位。愿主保佑你们，愿主保佑美利坚合众国。 我有一个梦想 I am happy tojoin with you today in what will go down in history as the greatestdemonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whosesymbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Thismomentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negroslaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as ajoyous daybreak to end the long night of bad captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is notfree. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled bythe manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred yearslater, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vastocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is stilllanguished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in hisown land. So we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital tocash a cheque. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent wordsof the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing apromissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was apromise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteedthe unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on thispromissory note in sofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead ofhonoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro peoplea bad cheque, a cheque which has come back marked "insufficientfunds". But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. Werefuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults ofopportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash thischeque — a cheque thatwill give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. Wehave also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency ofnow. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take thetranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises ofdemocracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley ofsegregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift ournation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock ofbrotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God'schildren. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook theurgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimatediscontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom andequality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hopethat the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have arude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will beneither rest nor tranquility in Americauntil the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revoltwill continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day ofjustice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my peoplewho stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In theprocess of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup ofbitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the highplane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest todegenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majesticheights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancywhich has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of allwhite people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presencehere today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with ourdestiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound toour freedom. We cannot walk alone. As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shallalways march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking thedevotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can neverbe satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors ofpolice brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy withthe fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways andthe hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basicmobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied aslong as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignityby signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long asa Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negroin New Yorkbelieves he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and wewill not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousnesslike a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come hereout of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrowjail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom leftyou battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of policebrutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to workwith the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go backto South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to theslums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situationcan and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. 马丁·路德·金 I say to youtoday, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today andtomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the Americandream. I have a dream that one day this nation will riseup, live up to the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to beself-evident; that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia thesons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sitdown together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state ofMississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with theheat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children willone day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of theirskin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, withits vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the wordsof interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little blackboys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys andwhite girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall beexalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will bemade plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of theLord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go backto the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountainof despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform thejangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. Withthis faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggletogether, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowingthat we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God’s childrenwill be able to sing with new meaning. My country, ’ tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing: Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims’ pride, From every mountainside. Let freedom ring. And if America is to be a great nationthis must become true. 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 Allegheniesof Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies ofColorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from StoneMountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain ofTennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi! From every mountainside, let freedom ring! And when this happens, when we allowfreedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, fromevery state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all ofGod’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants andCatholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negrospiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God almighty, we are free atlast!”
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