Martin Luther King’s Speech Remembered

Four decades after Martin Luther King Jr.’s call for jobs and equality stirred a nation, his family and other civil rights activists are commemorating his “I Have a Dream” speech with prayers, speeches and teach-ins.

Events in honor of the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington were getting under way Friday, including a ceremony at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The list of participants included King’s widow, Coretta Scott King.

It was on those granite steps, on a hot summer day before a crowd of about 250,000, that King delivered his eloquent demand of justice for all.

“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 on Aug. 28, 1963.

“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.”

Those words are not forgotten today, said his son, Martin Luther King III, in an Associated Press interview. “I do think people remember because they resonate so clearly.”

But King said the appeal his father made so many years ago has not yet been fully embraced.

“Components of the dream have been realized, but the entire vision of freedom, justice and equality for all humankind has not been realized yet,” he said.

King planned to join others at a series of teach-ins Saturday before a rally on the spot where his father spoke to the hundreds of thousands lined up along both sides of the Reflecting Pool.

Speakers on the schedule were representing a variety of interests – labor, women, gay rights, AIDS and environmental groups.

The lineup offered Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who attended the 1963 march; Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who helped organize that march; and activists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

The younger King said a special effort was made this year to reach out to the generation of 20- to 30-year-olds.

“We’re very proud to be able to bring the ‘sit-in’ generation along with the hip hop generation, working together to continue to create change in our nation,” he said.

Organizers declined to give figures on crowd estimates, but park service officials said initial plans projected a turnout of about 10,000 people.

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On the Net:

March on Washington: http://www.marchonwashington.org