let us not wallow in the valley of despair. i say to you today, my friends, that even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow. i still have a dream. it is a dream deeply rooted in the american dream.

i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

i have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

i have a dream today.

i have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

with this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

with this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

this will be the day when all of god's children will be able to sing with new meaning "my country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee i sing. land where my father's died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"

and if america is to be a great nation, this must become true. so let freedom ring from the hilltops of new hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of new york.

let freedom ring from the heightening alleghenies of pennsylvania.

let freedom ring from the snow-capped rockies of colorado.

let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of california.

but not only that, let freedom, ring from stone mountain of georgia.

let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of mississippi and every mountainside.

and when this happens, when we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement 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 spiritual, "free at last, free at last. thank god almighty, we are free at last."

the reverend doctor martin luther king jr. (august twenty-eighth, nineteen sixty-three)

on monday, we celebrated the life of one of the most influential men of all time. yesterday, the president called for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. today, the ohio legislature passed an amendment that keeps employers from giving benefits to "domestic partners." we have a national holiday for a man who worked for everyone to be treated equally, then immediately begin to opress and alienate people. what kind of a country are we? we fight in iraq to "free the iraqi people from oppression" we fight in afghanistan to free the people and create democracy, yet here at home we make laws to keep our own citizens under wraps, just because we don't like the people that they're in love with. well guess what george bush, i don't like your wife, so why don't you take away her health insurance. i don't like that your married, dick cheney, so why don't you tell your wide that when you die, she won't recieve the support that she needs. who's next, the handicapped, the sick, the elderly? who else can we attack in this "land of the free?" today i am ashamed to live in ohio, and i am ashamed to live in america, the "greatest country in the world"