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."
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.
今天我很高兴与你在什么将载入史册,为自由而举行的最大一次示威运动在我们国家的历史。
五年前,一位伟大的美国人,今天我们就站在他象征性的庇荫,签署了《解放宣言》。这一庄严宣言犹如灯塔的光芒的希望数百万黑奴被烙印在生命的不义之火中。它的到来犹如欢乐的黎明,结束了束缚黑人的漫漫长夜。
然而,一百年后,黑人依然没有获得自由。一百年后,黑人依然悲惨地蹒跚于生活的种族隔离的手铐和歧视的锁链。一百年后,黑人依然生活在贫困的孤岛上的巨大的物质繁荣的海洋。一百年后,黑人依然在美国社会的角落向隅而泣,依然在自己的土地。所以,我们今天来到这里,要把这骇人听闻的情况公诸于众。
在某种意义上我们已经来到我们国家的首都是为了兑现一张支票。当我们的共和国的建筑师写的宪法和独立宣言的'话说,他们签署一个本票,每一个美国人的后代。注意这是一个承诺,所有的男人,是的,黑人和白人一样,将保证“不可剥夺的权利”的“生命、自由和追求幸福的权利。今天“很明显,美国拖欠这本票,范围疏怠职责如她的颜色市民关注。美国没有履行这项神圣的义务,反而给黑人一张空头支票,支票已回来标志着“资金不足”。
但是我们不相信正义的银行已经破产。我们拒绝相信有资金不足的大金库这个国家的机会。因此,我们来兑现这张支票,支票,将给我们要求自由的财富和正义的保障。
