![]() ![]() ![]() Jacqueline Jones, professor, Department of History, and author of the forthcoming book, “A Dreadful Deceit: The Myth of Race from the Colonial Era to Obama’s America” We would then focus on the way King juxtaposes the sufferings of enslaved men and women “seared in the flames of withering injustice” with the persistently “shameful condition” of 20th century African Americans “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” King offers an implicit condemnation of a willfully indifferent federal government, bowing to the segregationists of both political parties, and of the liberal whites calling upon civil rights activists to exercise “moderation” and “patience.” To counter these elements of blacks’ “shameful condition,” citizens of goodwill must attack political and economic inequality without delay and compensate for the centuries of betrayal and broken promises endured by people of African descent in America.Īs we continue to grapple with such fundamental injustices in American life, King’s words suggest we should do more than “dream” of a better future rather, the country must take bold action, for, in his still-prescient words, “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment” that is, a long history of injustice that has led us to “the fierce urgency of Now.” ![]() How differently would we read and think about this speech if we instead referred to it as “The Fierce Urgency of Now” speech! Because we refer to the Reverend King’s speech as the “I Have a Dream Speech,” we tend to focus on the latter part of it. ![]()
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