Celebrate King's dream Monday

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: &#8220We 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 slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. … I have a dream that my four 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.

It has been more than 42 years since a young civil rights leader named Martin Luther King Jr. mounted the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and delivered one of the most moving and enduring speeches in American history. Less than five years later, King was gunned down by an assassin in Memphis, Tenn.

On Monday, the nation marks the 77th anniversary of King's birth. In so doing, it recognizes that although hatred put an end to his life, it did not put an end to his dream.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, 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 will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, &#8220My 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. …

Mat-Su residents can join in remembering King's legacy of freedom, justice and peace in the fourth annual community observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Anchorage lawmaker Bettye Davis, the first African-American elected to the state Senate, will be on hand to echo King's message of hope in an address titled &#8220Equality for All Generations.” The ceremony will be held at Teeland Middle School from 2-3:30 p.m. Participants are asked to bring a donation of a nonperishable food item.

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, &#8220Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”