thank you __PUNCT__
alvieda king __PUNCT__ ralph abernathi jr __PUNCT__ dr __PUNCT__ montgomeri __PUNCT__ member of the southern christian leadership confer __PUNCT__ i appreci your kind invit __PUNCT__ and i am honor to stand with you at thi place on thi dai __PUNCT__
martin luther king __PUNCT__ jr __PUNCT__ wa not a man to flinch from harsh truth __PUNCT__ and the same is requir of all who come here to see where he wa in the last hour of hi life __PUNCT__
the lorrain motel is a civil right museum now __PUNCT__ but in the memori of america it will alwai be a crime scene as well __PUNCT__
on the nation regist of histor place __PUNCT__ there ar few site rememb with more regret __PUNCT__ or touch with so much sorrow __PUNCT__
if we think onli of that dai and that moment __PUNCT__ there is no inspir to be gain here __PUNCT__
the man we rememb wa a believ in the power of conscienc and good to shape event __PUNCT__
but thi place will alwai stand as a remind that cowardic and malevol lai claim to their own victori __PUNCT__
no good caus in thi world __PUNCT__ howev right in principl or pure in heart __PUNCT__ wa ever advanc without sacrific __PUNCT__
and dr __PUNCT__ king knew thi __PUNCT__
he knew that men with nightstick __PUNCT__ tear __PUNCT__ ga __PUNCT__ and cattl prod were not the worst of what might be ly in wait each dai and night __PUNCT__
he wa a man accustom to the near of danger __PUNCT__
and when death came __PUNCT__ it found him stand upright __PUNCT__ in open air __PUNCT__ unafraid __PUNCT__
we see him todai from a distanc of four decad __PUNCT__ more time than the man himself live on thi earth __PUNCT__
and it would not be unusu if hi statur or reput had fade with the pass of the year __PUNCT__
it happen sometim that the judgment of histori overrul contemporari opinion __PUNCT__ indiffer to the fame and approv of the moment __PUNCT__
but thi ha not been the case with the firstborn son of alberta and martin luther king __PUNCT__ sr __PUNCT__
he onli seem a bigger man from far awai __PUNCT__
the qualiti of hi charact is onli more appar __PUNCT__
hi good name will be honor for as long as the creed of america is honor __PUNCT__
hi messag will be heard and understood for as long as the messag of the gospel is heard and understood __PUNCT__
forti year and more after the great struggl of the civil right movement __PUNCT__ we marvel that such fierc passion could be arous in defens of such petti cruelti __PUNCT__
separ lunch counter __PUNCT__ the prefer seat on a bu __PUNCT__ on restroom for white and anoth for everyon els __PUNCT__ these were among the prerog fought for as if on a point of the highest principl __PUNCT__
there is no end to human pride when it goe uncheck __PUNCT__ no limit to arrog and presumpt when thei pass uncorrect __PUNCT__
like everi citizen he spoke for __PUNCT__ martin luther king had seen the undersid of life in america __PUNCT__ where the rule of respect __PUNCT__ and fair __PUNCT__ and courtesi were thought not to appli __PUNCT__
it wa a humili exist __PUNCT__ unjust in matter both larg and small __PUNCT__ merciless in it routin of insult __PUNCT__ spare not even the elderli or littl children from it crude bulli __PUNCT__
for black men and women __PUNCT__ as dr __PUNCT__ king wrote __PUNCT__ it wa a life __PUNCT__ plagu with inner fear and outer resent __PUNCT__
and yet __PUNCT__ as he knew __PUNCT__ fear alon would never right the offens __PUNCT__
and resent alon would never overcom the wrong __PUNCT__
__PUNCT__ along the wai of life __PUNCT__ he said __PUNCT__ someon must have sens enough and moral enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil __PUNCT__
the greatest wai to do that is through love __PUNCT__
martin luther king todai is honor by the world __PUNCT__ in such a wai that it is easi to forget he onc knew the scorn of the world __PUNCT__
and it wasn't just forc of person that made him the man he wa __PUNCT__
it wa the power of truth __PUNCT__ spoken with a servant heart and a voic like no other __PUNCT__
he put it thi wai onc __PUNCT__ express the spirit of both the caus and it leader __PUNCT__ i said to myself over and over again __PUNCT__ keep martin luther king in the background and god in the foreground and everyth will be all right __PUNCT__
rememb you ar a channel of the gospel and not the sourc __PUNCT__
when dr __PUNCT__ king and hi comrad began to break that chain with their campaign of peac protest __PUNCT__ there were those who said __PUNCT__ wait __PUNCT__
just give it a littl more time __PUNCT__
be patient __PUNCT__
be patient __PUNCT__ and on dai america will come around __PUNCT__
but patienc had been tri __PUNCT__ over mani gener __PUNCT__ and still million live in what he call the smother __PUNCT__ airtight cage of injustic __PUNCT__
for hi march in birmingham __PUNCT__ montgomeri __PUNCT__ and elsewher __PUNCT__ for hi sit __PUNCT__ in and hi sermon __PUNCT__ he wa call an agit __PUNCT__ a troubl __PUNCT__ maker __PUNCT__ a malcont __PUNCT__ and a disturb of the peac __PUNCT__
these ar often the term appli to men and women of conscienc who will not endur cruelti __PUNCT__ nor abid injustic __PUNCT__
we hear them to thi dai __PUNCT__ in darfur __PUNCT__ zimbabw __PUNCT__ burma __PUNCT__ tibet __PUNCT__ iran and other land __PUNCT__ direct at everi brave soul who dare to disturb the peac of tyrant __PUNCT__
sometim the most radic thing is to be confront with our own standard __PUNCT__ to be ask simpli that we live up to the principl we profess __PUNCT__
even in thi most idealist of nation __PUNCT__ we do not alwai take kindli to be remind of what more we can do __PUNCT__ or how much better we can be __PUNCT__ or who els can be includ in the promis of america __PUNCT__
we can be slow as well to give great it due __PUNCT__ a mistak i made myself long ago when i vote against a feder holidai in memori of dr __PUNCT__ king __PUNCT__
i wa wrong and eventu realiz that __PUNCT__ in time to give full support for a state holidai in arizona __PUNCT__
we can all be a littl late sometim in do the right thing __PUNCT__ and dr __PUNCT__ king understood thi about hi fellow american __PUNCT__
but he knew as well that in the long term __PUNCT__ confid in the reason and good heart of america is alwai well place __PUNCT__
and alwai __PUNCT__ that wa hi method in word and action __PUNCT__ to remind us of who we ar and what we believ __PUNCT__
hi argument were unanswer and thei were familiar __PUNCT__ the case alwai rest on the write of the founder __PUNCT__ the teach of the prophet __PUNCT__ and the word of the lord __PUNCT__
perhap with more chariti than wa alwai deserv __PUNCT__ he often remind us that there wa moral bad __PUNCT__ and there wa moral blind __PUNCT__ and thei were not the same __PUNCT__
it wa thi spirit that turn hatr into forgiv __PUNCT__ anger into convict __PUNCT__ and a bitter life into a great on __PUNCT__
he love and honor hi countri even when the feel wa unreturn __PUNCT__ and counsel other to do the same __PUNCT__
he gave hi fellow countrymen and hi fellow christian the benefit of the doubt __PUNCT__ believ __PUNCT__ as he wrote __PUNCT__ that __PUNCT__ return hate for hate multipli hate __PUNCT__ ad deeper dark to a night alreadi devoid of star __PUNCT__
dark cannot drive out dark __PUNCT__ onli light can do that __PUNCT__
i rememb first learn what had happen here on the fourth of __DATE__ __PUNCT__ __NUM__ feel just as everyon els did back home __PUNCT__ onli perhap even more uncertain and alarm for my countri in the dark that wa then enclos around me and my fellow captiv __PUNCT__
in our circumst at the time __PUNCT__ good new from america wa hard to come by __PUNCT__
but the bad new wa a differ matter __PUNCT__ and each new report of violenc __PUNCT__ riot __PUNCT__ and other tribul in america wa deliv without delai __PUNCT__
the enemi had correctli calcul that the new from memphi would deepli wound moral __PUNCT__ and leav us worri and afraid for our countri __PUNCT__
doubtless it boost our captor __PUNCT__ moral __PUNCT__ confirm their belief that america wa a lost caus __PUNCT__ and that the futur belong to them __PUNCT__
yet how differ it all turn out __PUNCT__
and if thei had been the more reflect kind __PUNCT__ our enemi would have understood that the caus of dr __PUNCT__ king wa bigger than ani on man __PUNCT__ and could not be stop by forc of violenc __PUNCT__
struggl is reward __PUNCT__ in god own time __PUNCT__
wrong ar set right and evil is overcom __PUNCT__
we know thi to be true becaus it is the stori of the man we honor todai __PUNCT__ and becaus it is the stori of our countri __PUNCT__
and yet for all of thi __PUNCT__ forti year and a world awai __PUNCT__ we look up to that balconi __PUNCT__ we rememb that night __PUNCT__ and we ar still left with a feel of loss __PUNCT__
here wa a young man who compos on of literatur finest testimoni to the yearn for equal and justic under law __PUNCT__ write on the margin of a newspap __PUNCT__ in the confin of a prison cell __PUNCT__
here wa a preacher who endur beat __PUNCT__ surviv bomb __PUNCT__ suffer knife __PUNCT__ abus __PUNCT__ and ridicul __PUNCT__ and still place hi trust in the princ of peac __PUNCT__
here wa a husband and father who will stand to children in everi gener as a model of christian manhood __PUNCT__ but never got to rais hi own son and daughter __PUNCT__ or to share in the gift of year with hi good wife __PUNCT__
all of thi wa lost on the fourth of __DATE__ __PUNCT__ __NUM__ and there ar no consol to balanc the scale __PUNCT__
what remain __PUNCT__ howev __PUNCT__ is the exampl and wit of the reverend martin luther king __PUNCT__ jr __PUNCT__ and that is forev __PUNCT__
thank you __PUNCT__
