I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." 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. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
今天我很高興與你在什麼將載入史冊,為自由而舉行的最大一次示威運動在我們國家的歷史。
五年前,一位偉大的美國人,今天我們就站在他象徵性的庇廕,簽署了《解放宣言》。這一莊嚴宣言猶如燈塔的光芒的希望數百萬黑奴被烙印在生命的不義之火中。它的到來猶如歡樂的黎明,結束了束縛黑人的漫漫長夜。
然而,一百年後,黑人依然沒有獲得自由。一百年後,黑人依然悲慘地蹣跚於生活的種族隔離的手銬和歧視的鎖鏈。一百年後,黑人依然生活在貧困的孤島上的巨大的物質繁榮的海洋。一百年後,黑人依然在美國社會的角落向隅而泣,依然在自己的土地。所以,我們今天來到這裏,要把這駭人聽聞的情況公諸於眾。
在某種意義上我們已經來到我們國家的首都是為了兑現一張支票。當我們的共和國的建築師寫的憲法和獨立宣言的'話説,他們簽署一個本票,每一個美國人的後代。注意這是一個承諾,所有的男人,是的,黑人和白人一樣,將保證“不可剝奪的權利”的“生命、自由和追求幸福的權利。今天“很明顯,美國拖欠這本票,範圍疏怠職責如她的顏色市民關注。美國沒有履行這項神聖的義務,反而給黑人一張空頭支票,支票已回來標誌着“資金不足”。
但是我們不相信正義的銀行已經破產。我們拒絕相信有資金不足的大金庫這個國家的機會。因此,我們來兑現這張支票,支票,將給我們要求自由的財富和正義的保障。
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