MLK Jr.'s daughter reflects on her father’s ‘I have a dream’ speech: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: MLK Jr.'s daughter reflects on her father’s ‘I have a dream’ speech

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his most iconic speech on Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C. How close are we to the dream 60 years later? USA TODAY spoke with King's daughter, Rev. Bernice King, who reflected on her father’s hope for a more just and equal future. In this powerful interview, she explores both the progress we’ve made and the challenges that we still face today. 

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Dana Taylor:

Good morning and welcome to 5 Things. Today is Sunday, August 27th, 2023. Bernice King's father knew, she said, that the days would come when the oppressed and marginalized would need words of reassurance to continue their struggle when he might not be around. That, she said, was on the mind of her father, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, as he prepared to address more than 200,000 people at the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28th, 1963. In a conversation with USA TODAY, Bernice King revisited the speech widely considered one of the greatest public orations of all time with its famous four words, "I have a dream," before the 60th anniversary of its delivery. She considered how portions of the address have been forgotten and its overall purpose muted even as many of its themes and goals remain relevant today.

Rev. Bernice King:

"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 the sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check. A check, which has come back marked insufficient funds. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

"And so we've come to cash this check. A check that will give us upon demand, the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism."

Everybody loves the, "I have a dream," portion, and then there are other people like, "No, no, no, no." Especially those within the Black community. Pay attention to the part that comes before that because this is the reality. These are the conditions in order to get to the other parts of, "I have a dream," which is really once we kind of reconcile the past and the things that have continued.

That kind of restless energy in young people that we even see today, that we are tired of waiting for these things to be manifested and seeing, and experience our true freedom and equality, and being treated as equal persons in this nation.

My father spoke in so many challenging ways to us as a nation because he wanted us to be our best self. So he knew that there will be other days in the future, whether he was here or not, where we will be faced with some resistance in trying to progress past some of those things that have oppressed and exploited and marginalized people.

So we must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. He knew we had it in us, but we had to wake up to that and understand our responsibility to each other.

"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 racist, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right down 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. Every hill and molehill shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight."

A lot of people see it as a historic march - that was then, this is now. But some of the similar conditions still exist. There were so many things that they laid out as a part of that march for jobs and freedom. What people always forget is that this was part of a greater strategy and a plan to continue to rid the nation of de jure segregation by law.

When the March on Washington occurred, there was no Civil Rights Act. There was no Voting Rights Act. There was no Fair Housing Act. We can't forget, in 1963, there were very few registered Black voters. We were not even a part of the political system. We could not determine or participate in having influence on policymaking at all. I think we've made tremendous progress, and yet I think we have a lot of work to still do.

The struggle we are having is how do I live with somebody who has a different ideology from me? How do I live with somebody who may be mean spirited and doesn't even see what has happened through time that has impacted a group of people? How do I live with people who want to deny history, rewrite history? You're going to fight for justice and right the wrongs of this society, use the example of Martin Luther King. He taught us how to be love.

"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 snowcapped 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, and 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 that old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.'"

I've only heard my mother talk about it, because she was there with them, as you may know. Traveled with him to D.C. They got there a little late in the evening, and so he was polishing up, finishing his speech. She said she stayed up probably until about two, three o'clock in the morning. And my father often, with her first and foremost, when he would finish writing something, he would have her kind of give her input.

I don't think he even understood that moment at a level she understood it. That's why the work that she did to help to institutionalize his work, his words and his contributions have been so important. Because without her, we wouldn't be talking about him like this today.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to Cherie Saunders for her production assistance. Our senior producer is Shannon Rae Green and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of 5 Things.