The Dream

Is The Dream alive?

My children ask.

My own heart wonders.

When Dr. King rose to the podium in August of 1963, 250,000 people in front of him and the nation and world tuned in, he hadn’t planned to speak of the dream. The magnificent gospel singer Mahalia Jackson who sat behind him, shouted out “Martin, tell them about the dream.”

There are two themes in Dr. King’s speech in the moments before he decides to share about The Dream that I think are worth visiting.

First, a litany of lines that begin with “We cannot be satisfied until…”

He points out the many ways that racism continues to limit those of color, despite advances that the Civil Rights Movement had made.

Dr. King’s words:

We cannot be satisfied as long as the colored person’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “for white only.”

We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi cannot vote and a colored person in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

Today, we might update the list. Our country and world still leaves behind too many, with greed and power threatening love and justice. I encourage you to make your individual list, “I will not be satisfied until ____”. Fill it in as many ways as you can. It might point you into directions of service and leadership for 2026, places where you can work on The Dream.

Dr. King ends that section with a powerful line that still rings true as a guide for today:

No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

The second theme comes in the line before he begins to share about The Dream. Can you remember this line? It is an admittance that there is good reason to want to give up. I sense that amongst my friends and neighbors at the moment. Too much heaviness. Too much violence. Not enough humanity and compassion. Not enough care for our ailing planet.

Here is the line:

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you, today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment,

I still have a dream.

It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

 

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My brothers and sisters, we let the “I am not satisfied until…” to re-commit ourselves to our neighbors and communities, to the pursuit of a more just society, and to the work of The Beloved Community. 

And we also acknowledge the despair as something to be overcome together, in community.

And then, we say in unison with Dr. King that despite the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, we are here to continue the work of The Dream.

 

Drawing from my daughter Shandiin