Office for Civil Rights
Director's Corner
MLK SPEECH
"LIVE THE DREAM"
(Delivered by Winston Wilkinson January 15, 2007)
(Department of Health and Human Services)
INTRODUCTION
Garth, thank you for that fine introduction. I would also like to thank Secretary Mike Leavitt for his dedication and support of this event today. I first met Secretary Leavitt in 1997 when he was Governor of Utah. During that time Utah was one of the last States to recognize Martin Luther King Day [It was called Human Rights Day]. It was under his leadership that legislation was created by the Utah General Assembly and signed by him to recognize MLK Day and to create a MLK Commission. Thanks also go out to all those who worked hard to put this event together and to all those participating in the program. And of course everyone in the audience who has come out to share the wonderful gift we had in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Please give yourselves a hand.
It is an extreme pleasure for me to speak today on Martin Luther King's Birthday. I would like to recognize my family in attendance today and especially my wife who flew in from Utah to be here.
MY STORY
I was thrilled when asked to speak today on this special occasion. As I was contemplating what I might share with you, my thoughts were numerous. Having grown up in the 50's and 60's I reflected on my youthful days in a little community not far from here in Prince George's County. A community (Cedar Heights) that was completely segregated and separated from the white community by an 8 foot barbed wire fence. A time when I was personally unaware of Dr. King and the civil rights movement.
Sometimes I feel ashamed to admit that but we were totally insulated from many events in the outside world. We attended all black schools and churches. I didn't actually meet a white person until I joined the Navy in 1962.
It was in the Navy where I first experienced racism and really heard of Martin Luther King. My first duty station was in Washington, D.C. I was assigned to the Navy Ceremonial Guard. We were involved in events at Whitehouse receptions, welcoming visiting dignitaries, parades and military burial ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery.
In 1963, while traveling with three other sailors, we stopped for a lunch at a small restaurant on the eastern shore of Maryland. We all gave the waitress our orders. She returned and informed us that we could get the orders but we could not eat in the restaurant. We were in full military uniforms. My companions were shocked and asked the waitress, why we could not sit down and eat. She looked at me and it dawned on us that they did not serve Blacks. I struggled with this on my mind for several months.
In August of that same year my Ceremonial Guard unit was informed that there would be a march in Washington, D. C. on the 28th of the month led by Dr. Martin Luther King. We were instructed to take training in riot and crowd control.
We were trained in using our weapons (bayonets), tear gas, physical force and other methods to control the crowd if a riot broke out.
It was later that I learned that the march on Washington was for jobs and freedom for African Americans. There were several Black members of the Ceremonial Guard and we began to talk about the march and its meaning to Blacks across America. Several of the Guard members were from the South (Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina) and they talked about their experiences with racism in their home towns. That was really the first time I heard first-hand of the racism and suffering Blacks experienced in the South. I began to remember my father and the disgust he would express at working at the U.S. Government Printing Office. He would never share with us kids what was actually happening to him at the office but we knew it was not good. But as years went by and I got older I began to sense it had something to do with racism.
After our riot training we were informed that our unit would be responsible for covering the 11th Street Bridge (which is right down the street) where the new stadium is being built. Our orders were to protect and control the bridge and if there was a disruption to let people out but no one could go in over the bridge.
The night before the march the Black sailors secretly met and talked about the significance of the march and the struggle for Civil Rights. We decided that if a riot broke out we would lay down our weapons and not participate in the riot control. This was probably not a good idea but emotions were high and we were all 18 and 19 year olds. Luckily, the march was peaceful and we did not go through with our plans.
Let me share one more sixties story with you that happened to me in the building next door, the Sam Rayburn House Office building. In 1964 during President Lyndon Johnson's Inauguration, my Chief Petty Officer thought it would be a nice joke if I carried the Alabama flag and led the Alabama State delegation down Pennsylvania Avenue in the Inauguration parade. However, Gov. George Wallace of Alabama didn't like the joke. How many of you know of Gov. George Wallace and the role he played in the Civil Rights Movement? At a reception in the Rayburn building where the Governors were to meet the uniformed flag bearers carrying their State flag, Wallace tried to take the flag away from me. I fought him off and actually led the Alabama delegation down Pennsylvania Avenue and passed the Whitehouse in Revue. Now can you imagine in 1964 an African American leading George Wallace and the Alabama delegation down Pennsylvania Avenue?
There is more to the story but I won't share all of it today. However, it was doing this time that my life changed regarding the Civil Rights movement and through out the remainder of the sixties I became more aware of and knowledgeable about Martin Luther King.
This experience on August 28, 1963 (Which is my birthday) played a profound role in my life for the next four decades. Although I was involved in several Civil Rights activities at college, the most profound change for me was internal. As time and events unfolded regarding the Civil Rights movement I began to visualize the Dream that Dr. King enunciated in that Speech in Washington. I began to visualize the Dream for America that Dr. King spoke of. A dream that was constantly with me for the next 40 years. And I stand before you today as Director of the Office for Civil Rights, a product of the sixties and still trying to bring about an America that Dr. King dreamed of and died for.
MLK DAY
So, today, January 15th is MLK's birthday and we come together to celebrate and remember his voice, his words, his vision and his dream. Could I ask every one in the auditorium who was born after August 1963 � that would make you about 44 - to raise your hands. Thank you.
If my estimates are correct one third of all Americans alive today were not alive as the Civil Rights Movement unfolded during Dr. King's life. So that would mean that many of you here today have only known Dr. King through photo's in the history books, in old media footage and documentaries or through Black History month celebrations or programs such as this today. But we come together today to honor Dr. King so his dream of peace and brotherhood will never die.
His voice was that of a Baptist minister. It radiated with eloquence and compassion for a need for America to change its ways doing those very traumatic times that saw a nation unsure about how to deal with an issue as divisive as racism. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a compassionate, honest, warm and wise individual with a clear sense of purpose, self-definition and internal balance; even today it is difficult to appreciate the magnitude of his greatness. He had many gifts, including an eloquence of speech that reached out to millions of people the world over. He was dearly loved by the oppressed, and despised by those who opposed him. He called a nation, and its people, to live out the true meaning of its existence and its heritage and in so doing infused his people with pride and the necessary determination to change their world. He made the oppressed feel that they were not alone, he gave hope to the poor, friendship to the lonely, understanding to the ignorant, and helped the lost find their way. His views and thoughts were breathtaking, yet simple, his vision spanned the whole of human conduct, and he had strength born of humility.
His words were profound and very intimidating to many at that time. He was an eloquent and powerful speaker whose words were infused with a poetic majesty that both stunned and uplifted his audience. All who heard him speak took pride in their own self-worth. Their commitment to social change and justice was rekindled and greatly deepened. History has shown that the March on Washington was a turning point in our nation's history. Dr. Kings message and words that day continues to resonate around the world, and because of that one event, our nations leaders felt compelled to do something. The people who attended the March on Washington more than 45 years ago, heard King's appeal for a better America, an America they could then only dream about. Well, that America exists today.
His Vision and Dream can best be described in a statement from his wife, Coretta Scott King (and I quote): "On this day we commemorate Dr. King's great dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for children of every race and room at the inn for every needy child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great dream for America." She went on to say "MLK day is not only for celebration and remembrance, education and tribute, but above all a day of Service. All across America on this Holiday, his followers perform service in hospitals and shelters and prisons and wherever people need some help. It is a day of volunteering to feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, tutoring those who can't read, mentoring at-risk youngsters, consoling the brokenhearted and a thousand other projects for building the beloved community of his dream."
MLK was not only a man who talked the talk but he walked the walk. He put his life on the line for freedom and justice every day, the man who braved threats and jail and beatings and who ultimately paid the highest price to make democracy a reality for all Americans. But you know what; he was also very human like you and me. Let me share the following excerpt I read about him:
"The moment he became the public face of the boycott he became a target. He received threatening late-night phone calls which disturbed him to such a degree that he wondered if he shouldn't step down. He became fearful. Then he was arrested for a minor traffic offense that was nothing short of police harassment. It meant being fingerprinted and locked in a cell with hardened criminals. Although he was bailed out within a few hours, the experience unnerved him. The following evening, having been awoken by yet another ominous phone call and unable to sleep, King sat at his kitchen table, a cup of coffee untouched and growing cold before him. He was ready to give up. He thought about the previous comforts of life, his cherished baby daughter, his loyal and devoted wife, and he believed he was losing his courage. And then he heard an inner voice, a voice he took for that of Jesus, saying, Martin Luther, stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo I shall be with you. Even until the end of the world."
That experience restored king's inner strength. His fears dissipated, his uncertainty waned. He switched off the kitchen light and went upstairs to bed and sleep came instantly. For King that moment was seminal�an epiphany�a time that he would repeatedly recall whenever the doubts came.
Whenever God is going to speak through history, whenever he is going to change history, whenever he is going to move a situation, move a nation, free a people, he sends someone to do his work. He doesn't enlist the services of a lobby group, he doesn't go to a committee, he finds one special person; Abraham Lincoln to reaffirm the creed of freedom, Mahatma Gandhi to free the land of spirituality from oppression; to redeem those subjected to generations of slavery he called forth Martin Luther King and made him call out to all right minded people that now was the time to stand as tall, proud unfettered men and cast off the shackles of oppression and go forth into the light of freedom.
As we review his life and death, it is appropriate to draw inspiration from the life and leadership of one whose vision and commitments remain unparalleled in modern America. It is important to review how he wished to be remembered [quoting Dr King]:
"If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Prize, which isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards, that are not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. I'd like somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to love somebody. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity."
True to his word he left behind a legacy of Serving Others.
In his final sermon in Memphis, the night before his assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr. described the situation in terms of the parable of the Good Samaritan. He said the reason one passed by the man who had been beaten and robbed is because he asked the wrong question: "If I help this man, what will happen to me?"
The good man stopped to help because he asked the right question: "If I don't help this man, what will happen to him?"
The legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. to us is an abiding faith in the possibilities of America. Mrs. King stated: "We can create the beloved community that Martin envisioned. Let us now dare to embrace this common vision and mobilize all our resources to bring it into being. Let us build a society based on hope, and let us not only dream, but create a new national unity, unburdened by bigotry and strengthened by a conscious commitment to prosperity through interracial brotherhood and sisterhood."
Martin Luther King, Jr. led a courageous life committed to the spirit of change. Perhaps the revolution required today is not so much for social change but an inner revolution of the spirit where we find meaning for our lives, where we reject the easy road of apathy and indifference. We need to actively work for a just society through an integrated sense of being, but we cannot afford to just wait for the day when it finally becomes a reality. We need to begin to live and work together with the faith that we are all brothers and sisters in the great human family and where each of us leads decent lives and through self-realization attain our own inner peace and harmony; we should settle for nothing less. Now is the time and the way has been found for those who truly seek it.
To end�who can view the scene without a shiver running up the spine-- of Martin Luther King, Jr. pulling himself to his full height to proclaim to the world that he was not going to let anybody turn him around. And with faith in his people and relentless pursuit of God given rights, we all will be able to join hands and say together:
"FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST! THANK GOD ALMIGHTY WE ARE FREE AT LAST!"
Sources Used in Preparing this speech:
- Knowledge of Reality Magazine, "Martin Luther King, Jr. Bound to Love," Issue 15.
- The Meaning of Martin Luther King Holiday, by Coretta Scott King.
- Speech by Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay, University of Missouri-St Louis, January 19, 2004.
Last revised: April 7, 2008
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