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 Singapore 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 farmers and the sons of former scholars will be able to
sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the education level but by
the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every
hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made
plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the
South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain
of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to
transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful
symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work
together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail
together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be
free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to
sing with a new meaning, “My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of
liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the
pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if Singapore is to be a great nation this must become true.
So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of Bukit Merah.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of Bukit Timah. Let
freedom ring from the heightening HMV of
Orchard Road!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Pulau Ubin!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of Petra Blanca!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of
Tampinese!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Jurong!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of
Woodlands. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village
and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able
to speed up that day when all of God’s children, farmers and
scholars, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be
able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro
spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are
free at last!”
