今天能和大家在一起，我很高兴。我们今天的活动，将作为我们国家有史以来最伟大的一次争取自由运动而载入史册。

　　一个世纪前，一位了不起的美国人签署了奴隶解放宣言，而我们今天就站在他的塑像下面。对于千千万万身受不公正待遇之苦的黑奴来说，这份划时代的文件，是一座光芒万丈的希望灯塔，是结束他们被束缚之漫漫长夜的快乐黎明。

　　然而在一百年后，黑人依然未能获得自由；一百年后，黑人的命运依然被种族隔离的镣铐和歧视的锁链悲惨地束缚着，在一个巨大无边的物质繁荣海洋中，黑人却生活在贫困的孤岛上；一百年后，黑人依然在美国社会的角落中潦倒，依然在自己的土地上过着被放逐的生活。

　　因此我们今天来到这里，是要对这种耻辱的现状大声疾呼。在某种意义上，我们聚集在我们国家的首都来兑现一张支票。当共和国的缔造者写下宪法和独立宣言中的不朽文字时，他们实际上是签署了一张每个美国人都有权利继承的承诺书。这份文书承诺，所有的人，不错，黑人和白人，都被保障享有不可剥夺的生命、自由、追求幸福权利。

　　今天我们可以看得很清楚，对于美国的有色公民来说，美国并没有履行这份承诺书中的保证。美国没有能够尽到这项庄严的义务，而是给了黑人一张空头支票，一张被退回并注明“没有足够资金”的支票。然而，我们拒绝相信公正银行已经破产，我们拒绝相信在这个国家庞大的机会宝库中会没有足够的资金。因此，我们到这里来兑现这张支票，一张在需要时可以给我们带来自由之财富和公正之保障的支票。

　　我们今天来到这个神圣的地方，也是为了提醒美国，这个问题的紧迫性。现在不是缓和情绪，或服用渐进主义安定药的时候。现在是做出真正的民主承诺的时候；现在是走出种族隔离之黑暗荒芜的深谷，迈向种族公平之阳光大道的时候；现在是将我们国家，从种族不公正的流沙中拔出，安置于兄弟般情意的磐石上的时候；现在是给上帝的所有儿女公正待遇的时候。倘若我们国家忽视了这种紧迫性，其后果将是致命的。在令人振奋的自由与平等的秋天到来之前，这个由黑人的合理不满而造成的酷热夏季将不会过去。

　　一九六三年不是一个终结，而是一个开端。对于那些希望黑人只是要发泄一下情绪，并且将会安于现状的人来说，如果整个国家不改变态度的话，他们则将会被粗暴地唤醒。在黑人取得其公民权利之前，美国将永无安宁与祥和。反抗的旋风将不断地摇撼着我们国家的基础，直至出现公正的晴天。

　　然而我必须提醒大家，我们今天站在通往公正之殿堂的门槛上，这道门槛曾被千千万万的人踏过。在取得我们应有地位的过程中，我们无论如何不能采取任何错误的行动。我们不能因为渴望自由，就去饮用愤怒与仇恨之酒。我们必须始终以高层次的品格和自律来进行我们的斗争。我们决不能让富于创意的示威活动堕落成暴力行为。我们必须一次又一次地升华到以心灵力量对付肉体暴力的崇高境界。目前充满黑人社区的新斗争精神是非常好的，但决不能造成我们对所有白人的不信任。因为我们的许多白人兄弟，正如他们今天加入我们的行列所显示的那样，已经认识到他们的命运与我们的命运紧密地系在一起。并且他们已经认识到，他们的自由与我们的自由也是不可分割的。我们不能独自前进。并且在我们的进程中，我们必须发誓我们将一直向前走，我们绝不能走回头路。

　　有些人责问民权运动的积极分子说：“如何才能让你们满意？”只要黑人还受害于警察兽行之难以言述的恐怖，我们就绝不会满意；只要我们经过长途跋涉而疲惫不堪的肉体，无法在公路边的汽车旅店和城市中的旅馆内得到休息，我们就绝不会满意；只要黑人的基本迁徙，只是从一个较小的黑人区搬到一个较大的黑人区，我们就绝不会满意；只要我们的孩子，因为“只限白人”的标志而被剥夺自我和伤及自尊，我们就绝不会满意；只要密西西比州的黑人还不能投票，而纽约州的黑人也认为没有甚么事情值得投票，我们就绝不会满意。不会，坚决不会！我们没有满意，并且直到“公正像水一样流淌，而正义行为如同滚滚洪流”之前，我们将绝不会满意。

　　我知道你们中的一些人，今天来到这里，是因为你们所受的巨大苦难和压迫。有一些人刚从狭窄的牢房里走出来；还有一些人因为追求自由，而受到种种迫害，以及警察兽行的打击。你们受尽了种种痛苦，但却继续努力，坚信尝受不应有的痛苦是会有回报的。回到密西西比州去，回到阿拉巴马州去，回到南卡罗来纳州去，回到乔治亚州去，回到路易斯安那州去，回到北方城市的贫民窟和黑人区去，坚信这种情况早晚是要变的。让我们再不要在绝望的深谷里徘徊。

朋友们，这就是我要向大家说的，尽管我们在今天和明天会遇到许多困难，我仍然有一个梦，这是一个发源于美国梦的梦。这就是有朝一日，这个国家终将会站立起来，真正履行其信条：“我们认为所有人生来平等是不言自明的真理。”

我有一个梦，有朝一日在乔治亚州的丘陵地带，奴隶的后代与奴隶主的后代，将能够兄弟般地相处。

我有一个梦，有朝一日甚至密西西比州，这个充满不平与压迫的州，将转化成一片自由与公正的绿洲。

我有一个梦，我的四个孩子，有朝一日将可以生活在这样一个国度里：在此人们不是根据他们的肤色，而是根据他们的品行来衡量他们。

　　我今天有一个梦！

　　我有一个梦，有朝一日在阿拉巴马州，尽管目前有许多恶毒的种族主义者，尽管州长叫嚷着要与联邦政府对抗，有朝一日在阿拉巴马州，黑人孩子与白人孩子将会像兄弟姊妹那样亲密无间。

　　我今天有一个梦！

　　我有一个梦，有朝一日所有的深谷会被填平，每一座大山都会被挖低，崎岖的地方将变成平原，而扭曲的场合将被修直，“主的光辉将被全人类所共同瞻仰。”

　　这就是我们的希望，这就是我将带回南部的信念。持此信念，我们能够移去绝望的大山，这座山是一块压抑希望的巨石。持此信念，我们能够将我们国家这些刺耳的不谐和音，转化成一曲展现兄弟情意的华丽交响乐。持此信念，我们能够共同努力、共同祈祷、共同斗争、共同坐牢、共同维护自由，坚信有一天我们终将会成为自由人。并且这将是，这将是上帝的所有儿女们能够以全新的意义共同歌唱的一天：“我的祖国是一片自由的土地，我的父辈为了这片土地而牺牲，清教徒为这片土地而自豪；从每一个山脚，让自由之声回响。”如果美国要成为一个伟大的国度，这一条必须要实现。

　　因此，让自由之声在新罕布夏州的大山顶上回响，让自由之声在纽约州的巨峰上回响，让自由之声在宾西法尼亚州高耸入云的阿勒格尼山上回响，让自由之声在科罗拉多州白雪盖顶的落矶山上回响，让自由之声在加利福尼亚州崎岖不平的土地上回响。然而这还不够，还要让自由之声在乔治亚州的石头山上回响，让自由之声在田纳西州的了望山上回响，让自由之声在密西西比州的每一座山上回响。从每一个山脚，让自由之声响彻云霄！

当这一天来临时，当我们可以让自由之声回响，当我们让它在每个村落、每个州和每个城市回响时，我们离这样的日子就不远了：到那时，上帝的所有儿女们，黑人和白人、犹太人和异教徒、新教徒和天主教徒，将可以手拉手站在一起，同声歌唱古老的黑人圣歌：“终于自由了，终于自由了；感谢全能的上帝，我们终于自由了！”

演讲全文：I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process 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 of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And 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, the 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 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.

I have a dream today!

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