What Does MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech Say to You Today?
Issue 157 — January 17, 2021
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
That’s my favorite quote from Dr. King. And I feel sure that if he were writing those words today, he would include “woman.” Because as he himself often noted, justice must always expand to be inclusive of all.
To honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his birthday weekend and national holiday, here are some more of his most stirring quotes.
Pick your favorite from the list or explore others online. I know you’ll be inspired to use what I call your “power to” to take action. For inspiration is balm for the soul and a powerful kick in the resolve to keep going no matter how challenging the path, no matter what the setbacks.
During this time of great national duress and yet great hope for a better future not unlike what propelled the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, we need that inspiration as much as the assembled marchers on the Capital Mall in August of 1963 did.
Here is the full text of the “I Have a Dream” speech given at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and a link to the audio. You can also watch the video of the full speech here.
I loved watching this 9th grader who wins a prize in Tulsa, OK for his from-memory rendition of Dr. King’s iconic speech. The contest is held each year by a local Tulsa company, One Gas, as a way of emphasizing the importance of living out Dr. King’s values today. These timeless words are historical but in no way are they ready for the dustbin of history. Each of us should feel as though they are meant for us in the present day.
Often when I speak to younger women, they ask me why I seem so optimistic despite the gendered disparities that remain in leadership and pay, and despite the barriers both implicit and explicit that still impede full racial and gender equality.
I explain that I learned from my involvement with the Civil Rights movement that people of good will joining together for social justice can create fundamental change. Back then, the struggle was to end legal segregation, police brutality, and job discrimination. Today, these injustices may no longer be embedded in law, but they remain on the agenda to remind us that no matter how far we have come, we must stay the course until, in Dr. King’s melodic Biblical words “justice rolls down like a mighty stream.”
I am especially inspired by and aligned with what Dr. King said about power:
“I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.”
It’s worth the time to read, watch, and listen to his speeches, and compare Dr. King’s use of the “power to” to the violent marauding gangs who invaded the Capitol in an attempt to get “power over” duly elected officials and leave our democracy in tatters.
Dr. King’s admonition: “In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.”
Because power is in fact only energy and it can be used for good or evil. It’s all about what each of us does with our power that counts.
In words far more eloquent than mine, Dr. King tells us to define power on our terms. To reject the oppressive power-over model; to use the power to, in order to do good. That transformation of the power paradigm is at the heart of all the programs I have created for Take The Lead, and I find repeatedly that making that mental transformation is the key to enabling women to embrace the phenomenal power they inherently have with authenticity, confidence, and joy.
One of my proudest moments was receiving the Martin Luther King Living the Dream award from the City of Phoenix, capped off by the honor of sharing the podium with Coretta Scott King.
Dr. King’s power came from his fierce passion for justice. And he had a rare ability to articulate that passion in a compelling way, with poetry and storytelling and metaphor. We hunger for such a leader today. But consider: it might just be that each of us can be that leader. Because we all have opportunities to take leadership actions whether at home, at work, or in the public sphere. As women, we always become more powerful when we connect with our passion; with our talent and value.
As Dr. King said about the “fierce urgency of now:”
“We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.”
And then he declared this vision:
[W]hen we allow freedom to 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, black men and white men, 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!”
How can you not have goosebumps?
What MLK quote most inspires you to use your power to? Please share it here to honor Dr. King’s birthday and guide you on your path to create greater justice in the world for your own good, the good of the world, and for good as in forever.
GLORIA FELDT is the Cofounder and President of Take The Lead, a motivational speaker and expert women’s leadership developer for companies that want to build gender balance, and a bestselling author of four books, most recently No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power. Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she teaches “Women, Power, and Leadership” at Arizona State University and is a frequent media commentator. Learn more at www.gloriafeldt.com and www.taketheleadwomen.com. Tweet Gloria Feldt.