To This Dreamer, ‘Insufficient Funds’ Is Unacceptable in America

We all have heard at least a portion of the iconic “I Have A Dream” speech delivered by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Washington, D.C. in 1963. There are some powerful words contained in that ‘sermon’, which was also A CALL TO ACTION aimed at every man, woman, child, family, friend or foe, public servant, policymaker and politician in this country.

That was more than 57 years ago when those words were spoken before a crowd of more than 200,000 people in our nation’s capital. In the year 2020, many of the demands made then, are still being called for today. A full diverse representation of Americans have been engaged in organized and mainly peaceful protests over the last 3-4 months. The same demands made in 1963 are made today.

Here is an excerpt from that speech, that demonstrates just how long that we have fully documented evidence of the collective demand for justice for African-Americans in the U.S. :

“It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. 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.”