In 1963, one hundred years after Abraham Lincoln brought end to slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed a peaceful mass of mostly black Americans on the mall in our nation’s capital. Looking back from the 21st century at the people gathered to hear him, what’s immediately striking about the crowd is its dignity. Violence is notably absent. There’s a stir. A quiet mill of women and men in Sunday best. And, unmuted by the poor quality of old video footage, the current of a powerful force within them. Standing in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, the people Dr. King addressed were, simultaneously, the embodiment of peaceful endurance and a coiled spring awaiting the call to push forward. Dr. King spoke of crippling consequence from our nation’s most shameful failings. He called out the injustice of ghettos. He called out beyond the crowd. King called for justice, for upward mobility, for equality endowed, but long denied. He called to end enforced separation. Dr. King drew people together; a living sea tide against oppression. King spoke of a Dream. Rather than call for destruction of the American Dream, he called us to live into reality its promise of full participation. A dream of black and white living and working together without enmity. Free. The people of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in America sought, fought for and won racial desegregation in the public square. Now, more than a half century later, our nation takes a day each January to honor the work of Martin Luther King Jr. To remember our American Dream is for all. To grieve wounds. To pause in the bittersweetness of things changed. To hold a hand in the midst of winter’s grip. To breathe in the goodness of what is today. We reflect on victories won with the power and strength of good character. We give thanks for a kindness, a word of wisdom. Another’s perspective. Grace. Filled up, we mark out a step; lay a stone; reach across the table to make a friend. Filled up, with the promise of Spring in our minds. Our Dream Lives On. Thank you, Dr. King, for your inspired example.
“Honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and the Dream That Lives On,” was written by Jennifer Wicklund, CPA, CGMA, Principal
© Sound Accounting & Technology LLC 2020
View the, “I Have A Dream” speech on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47Y6VHc3Ms