January 21, 2008, Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia
Georgia is on my mind
Today, in that great gettin’ up morning
Georgia is on my mind
Georgia is on my mind
Reverend Warnock,
Mrs. Farris,
Members of the King and Farris family
Distinguished guests, one and all
In that great gettin’ up morning
We find ourselves
Celebrating the life
And legacy of Martin King
Georgia is on my mind
From the Etowah to the Chattahoochee
From South Carolina to the
Far reaches of the Apalachicola Bay
Georgia’s on my mind
And from recent media
And eyewitness accounts
Georgia is on the mind
Of the next president of the United States
This great getting’ up morning
That feeds our souls didn’t come without struggle
And didn’t come without dreams.
Historians say
Nearly three centuries ago
Black slaves were smuggled
Into Georgia from South Carolina
349 working Negroes are recorded in the early Georgia annuals….
Numbered but not named….
Invisible
“I am an invisible man.
No I am not the spook
Like those who haunted Edgar Allen Poe….
I am a man of substance…
Even be said to possess a mind.
I am invisible; understand because people refuse to see me.
…. A matter of the construction
Of their inner eyes”
The words of noted author Richard Wright
Invisible,
Numbered and unnamed….
Bound by our misery
Bound by our dreams
In that great gettin’ up morning
Fare thee well, fare thee well
It is an all American day
Unlike others
For on this day we celebrate
The revolutionary leadership,
Courage,
Resolve of martin king
To lead us in spite of the consequences,
To preach fairness,
Promote equality
And demand justice
As we celebrate martin
We celebrate his family
And the many others whose
Sacrifices made it possible
That we might gather here
Together,
That we might dream
That in 2008
We might witness
What some say is impossible
Improbable
Farfetched
In times of trouble and turmoil
America reaches
Stretches maybe to elect a president
From uncharted places
A mill worker’s son, a first lady, a Mormon,
A Baptist preacher
Even a black man
Not just running for the top office in the land
But on this
Beautiful all American day in 2008
We are at the cusp of
Turning
The impossible into reality
Is this a miracle?
We are certainly here
By the grace of god,
By the prayers
And dreams of the faithful
Yes…..this is reality not fantasy,
Not a fairy tale
A reality rooted
In the very foundation
Of the modern civil rights movement
A movement that spans generations
Circles the world
Crisscrosses our differences
And unites men, women and children of conscience
What better way
Act on the legacy of martin king
On whose shoulders we, you and I, surely stand
Take heed to Martin King
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor
Politic, nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right”
King
What better way
To honor the King legacy
Than to act with conscience
Without regard
To the popularity of our position
But to do
What is right
Just
And fair, no matter how improbable it seems.
King’s legacy
Gives life and
Light to our dreams
From Bagdad to Beijing
Detroit to Darfur
Harlem to Hiram
Who among us will
Dash the hopes of the mother of hungry baby,
The dreams of a homeless family
The opportunities of an aging worker
Or crush the spirit a courageous soldier?
Can we act on King’s legacy without dreaming?
I think not.
To paraphrase Atlanta’s own André 3000….The world needs light, dreams……“the world needs sun…
..I tell it how it could be”
Martin King
Aimed high,
Acted on faith
Dreamed miracles
That inspired a nation
To change the course of history
His life’s work inspires the world
Can we act on King’s legacy without dreaming?
I think not.
King’s legacy gives light
To our hopes
Permission to our aspirations
Relevance to our dreams
Oh Georgia’s on my mind
Will we been seen?
Will we be heard?
Will we act…….
In the spirit of a movement,
A man, Martin King
Who had no shackles on his dreams?
On this beautiful all American Georgia day
In that great gettin’ up morning
Will we muster the courage?
Reach for the top
In the spirit of a movement,
Will we dream the impossible?
Martin did!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In that great getting’ up morning
Fare thee well, fare thee well