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President Obama: In this place he will stand for all time.
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Child 1: I have a dream that this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.
Child 2: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
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President Obama: It is precisely because Dr. King was a man of flesh and blood and not
a figure of stone that he inspires us so.
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So must we draw inspiration from his constant
insistence on the oneness of man, the belief, in his words, that we are caught in an inescapable
network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
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That is why we honor this man,
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because he had faith in us.
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Child 1: With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope!
Child 2: With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation
into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood!
Child 3: With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle
together, to go to jail together, to stand for freedom together knowing that
we will be free one day!
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President Obama: He kept on pushing. He kept on speaking. He kept on marching until change
finally came. But he also understood that to bring about true and lasting change there
must be the possibility of reconciliation. Dr. King refused to accept what he called
the "is-ness" of today. He kept pushing towards the "ought-ness" of tomorrow.
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Child 1: I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation that
they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
Child 3: One day right there in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be
able to join hands with little white boys and little white girls as sisters and brothers!
I have a dream today!
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President Obama: So on this day on which we celebrate a man and a movement that did so
much for this country, let us draw strength from those earlier struggles.
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Let us keep striving. Let us keep struggling. Let us keep climbing towards that promised land of a nation
and a world that is more fair and more just and more equal for every single child of God.
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