Hello everyone!
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great american, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the emancipation proclamation. this momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. it came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the negro still is not free. one hundred years later, the life of the negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. one hundred years later, the negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. one hundred years later, the negro is still languished in the corners of american society and finds himself an exile in his own land. and so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. when the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the constitution and the declaration of independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every american was to fall heir. this note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable rights" of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." it is obvious today that america has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. instead of honoring this sacred obligation, america has given the negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
Thank you!
大家好!
今天我很高興與你在什么將被載入史冊,為自由而舉行的最大一次示威運動在我們國家的歷史。
五年前,一位偉大的美國人,今天我們站在他象征性的庇蔭,簽署了解放宣言。這一莊嚴宣言猶如燈塔之光希望數(shù)百萬黑奴被火焰灼傷的不公。它的到來猶如歡樂的黎明,結束了束縛黑人的漫漫長夜。
然而,一百年后,黑人依然沒有獲得自由。一百年后,黑人的生活仍然是種族隔離的手銬和歧視的鎖鏈。一百年后,黑人生活在貧困的孤島中一個巨大的物質繁榮的海洋。一百年后的今天,黑人仍然萎縮在美國社會的角落,發(fā)現(xiàn)自己一個放逐在