We Have a Dream

I’m sitting in the famous Marian Anderson Hall, where The Philadelphia Orchestra will present its 36th annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert, led by conductor Thomas Wilkins. “The annual Martin Luther King, Jr., concert has a become a cornerstone of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s free community programming,” says Ryan Fleur, president and CEO of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts. “The Philadelphia Orchestra shares Dr. King’s belief that music has the unrivaled power to unite people and bring about positive change in the world.

For our own projects over the last three years, we have worked to bring the voices, music and creativity of young people to the world as they speak out against gun violence. Honoring the life and works of Dr. King, a victim of gun violence, is a non-partisan expression of the better world we all hope to see.

Here are the words of President Ronald Reagan in a speech he gave the Students and Faculty at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School.

“We've all been hearing a lot of quotations from Dr. King the past few days, and I suppose the most famous is, ``I have a dream.'' But the one I think of sometimes, the one that really shook you up in the days after his death, was the speech he gave at his home church, the Ebenezer Baptist, on February 4, 1968, just 2 months before he was shot. … He talked about his own legacy and said, “Just say that I was a drum major for justice.'' You know what a drum major is -- the fellow that leads the band. He said that ``I was a drum major for righteousness. … I just want to leave a committed life behind.''...

``I want to leave a committed life behind.''

Those of us who were school kids ourselves when Dr. King became a victim of gun violence, recall the day in April of 1968 with stark immediacy, with the same emotional impact that young people face all too regularly when gun violence and school shootings take lives and create tragedy today.

Almost 60 years later, we still seek answers. I’m reminded of my favorite MLK quote, that the arc of the moral universe is long but that it bends toward justice. King quoted Theodore Parker, a 19th-century abolitionist and Unitarian minister. We have a long road ahead of us, filled with challenges, setbacks and yes, when it comes to gun violence, more than our share of fresh tragedy. But with each day we commit to change, we come a little closer to Dr. King’s Dream for this country and our children.

“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, … 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.”

Read the full text of King’s I Have a Dream Speech here.

Note, images from Dr. King’s rallies come from a 1964 film called “The March” which was produced by the US Information Agency.