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This is
our hope. This is the faith with which I return to
the South. 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 stand 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 died, land of the Pilgrims' 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 prodigious
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 snowcapped Rockies of
Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks
of California. But not only that: let freedom
ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom
ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let
freedom ring from every hill and molehill of
Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom
ring.
When we
let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village
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 Negro spiritual, "Free at
last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are
free at last!"
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