#advancingthedream

Stevie Wonder, Stevie Wonder: ‘We need people to lead,’ be bold and courageous

From the stage!! #advancingTheDream #msnbc #liveTV

You can argue what you want, take whatever prestigious position that you must. Whatever it takes to get involved, justify immediate action. Be compelled by the state of our deteriorating condition. Even after fifty long, arduous years there is still a fight to be had. Men and women languish in the corners of our society held in place by devastating poverty and a system of implicit disadvantage. Even after fifty years the citizenship rights promised to all by this nation's founding documents have not been fully realized, in some cases those rights rolled back in others consciously ignored. Work is still to be done if we are to  remove the glaring reproach of oppression and discontent that has been threaded into the foundations of our nation. We must all work to advance the cause of equality. We can not sit back as rights that were fought for, that many have even died for are made void. These rights that caused us to call out before the foundations of this nation in pursuit of equal citizenship and enfranchisement are yet again in jeopardy.We can not sit and watch, nullifying the work that has been done insofar. My rights are your rights, the taking from one is the pilferage of us all. It is up to us to put an end to the foolishness of today. Your freedom is inextricably bound upon mine, and if I can't be free than you can't either. This is our mandate.To promote and sustain life, with true equality. In our hands have been committed the subsistence of future generations. It must not be allowed for them to grow in the degraded and antiquated system of which we have.  We cannot leave for them an inheritance of the same injustice perpetrated upon present and past generations. Just in the last decade we have come to realize a startling reality. From stop and frisk in New York City, to the shuttering of public schools in Chicago. We watched in horror as our government ignored the call of thousands stranded on rooftops in an attempt to escape the flooded streets of New Orleans Ninth Ward. We have watched as our government imposes upon  its citizens lengthy periods of incarceration in its prison for minor offenses, especially in the case of minorities, while its majority counterpart is sentenced lighter for offences that were worse sometimes in order of magnitudes. Even in the progressives state of California,  its prisons are bursting with mostly minority,  non violent, low level offenders without option of rehabilitation. We have watched as South Carolina, Texas and Florida (Just to name a few) covertly rolled back fair access to the ballot while simultaneously restricting a  woman's rights to abortion. We have watched as our courts struck down key voting legislation while offering major corporations the unchecked ability to influence what is supposed to be free and fair elections. We have watched as the wealth of our economic system is handed over to only a select few, with the remainder of our citizens struggling to maintain a living wage. This is the present  and depraved state of our very ill condition. One that if not dramatically corrected will evolve into a condition that is terminal. We have to get up. We must take up this fight. We have to hold up the blood stained banner of freedom and equality. Though we may grow weary, labored by the burdens of intolerance and injustice we must keep our hands on the plow. Clearing a way for those to come. We can not only sit and reap the slipping benefits of generations past. There must be a shaking of our nations aggregate conscience. The greatness of our nation will be in word only until the promise of equality for all people is realized. If we must take to the streets, let us go. Let us go to the places where injustice and subjugation still reign and remove it from its station. Let us go out and realize change. If it is the South, let us go there. If it's in the north, let us go there. If it resides in the west, let us go there. If its head of indifference is raised even in Washington D.C., then let us go there. Let us go until the lights of equality shine everywhere. If freedom is what we want, then it is up to us to not only secure it but to sustain it as well. We must stop moving from dream to dream. From here forward we must move from dream to reality.

#AdvancingTheDream

Obama commemorated the anniversary with another soaring speech to the nation. Bravo, Mr. President.

Tune in to MSNBC tonight, August 28th at 8pm ET for a special rebroadcast of MLK’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech.

#timessquare #marchonwashington #advancingthedream #msnbc