I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells.And some of you have come from areas where your quest-quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.You have been the veterans of creative suffering.Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.Go back to Mississippi,go back to Alabama,go back to South Carolina,go back to Georgia,go back to Louisiana,go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities,knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair,I say to you today,my friends.
And so 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 one day on the red hills of Georgia,the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi,a state sweltering with the heat of injustice,sweltering with the heat of oppression,will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
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,down in Alabama,with its vicious racists,with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of“interposition”and“nullification”-one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted,and every hill and mountain shall be made low,the rough places will be made plain,and the crooked places will be made straight;“and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together”.
This is our hope,and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith,we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.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.
And this will be the 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 fathers 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.And 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 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 Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.From every mountainside,let freedom ring.
And when this happens,when we allow 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!
译文参考
我有一个梦想
——马丁·路德·金在林肯纪念堂的演讲
今天,我对能够与大家一起参与这次将会成为我国历史上为了争取自由而举行的最伟大的活动而表示高兴。
100年前,一位伟大的美国人——今天我们就站在他身影之下——签署了《解放宣言》。这项重要法令的颁布,对于那些被置于非正义残焰中炙烤的黑奴们,如同带来了希望之光的硕大灯塔,如同结束了漫漫长夜禁锢的欢畅黎明。
然而百年之后,黑人仍然没有获得真正的自由。百年之后,黑人们依然悲惨地蹒跚于种族隔离和歧视之中。百年之后,黑人们仍然生活在物质丰盈的浩海中的贫瘠孤岛上。百年之后,黑人们依然在美国社会中的一隅中哭泣,仍然感到自己在自己的国土家园中流离失所。所以我们今天聚集于此,将把这骇人听闻的情况公之于众。
就某种意义来说,我们来到首都是为了兑现一张期票——一张由我们共和国的缔造者在拟写宪法和独立宣言的辉煌篇章时,就已经签署给每一位美国公民的期票。这张期票向所有人都做过承诺——无论是白种人还是黑种人——都享有神圣不可侵犯的生存权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。然而,当前的美国显然对她的有色公民拖欠着这样一张期票,没有偿还这笔神圣的债务,而给黑人开的是一张空头支票——一张盖有“资金不足”的印戳被退回的支票。
但是,我们不相信正义银行会破产。我们不相信这个国家巨大的机遇宝库资源匮乏。因此我们来兑现这张支票。这张赋予我们宝贵自由和正义的保障。
我们来到这块神圣的土地还是为了提醒美国民众:现在已然到了万分危急的时刻了,现在不是从容不迫悠然行事或者服用渐进主义镇静剂的时候了。现在已经到了实现民主诺言的时刻了。是走出幽暗荒凉的种族隔离深谷,踏上种族平等的阳关大道的时候了。是帮助我们的国家走出种族不平等的流沙,登上充满手足之情的磐石上的时候了。是让上帝所有的孩子享受真正公平的时候了。