Oprah Winfrey

"If you go back to a man who hit you, you don't think you're worthy of being with a man who won't."

"I Have A Dream"

"There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."


King's speech was on point in 1968 --and is very much on point in 2009. Yes, we have come a mighty long way--literally from the outhouse to the White House. But we still have a mighty long way to go. We can not be satisfied as long as black men and women are victims of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. The images are still burned in our minds from long, long ago and more recent history as well --Rodney King March 3, 1991; Amadou Diallo, February 1999; Sean Bell November 2006.
As the image of President Obama circulates with the caption that reads: "I am the Dream", how can anyone believe that the fight is over? We can not be satisfied just because there is a black man in the white house. He's our hope, and he's our dream, but he's NOT our saviour. We, the people must fight for the dream to become a reality. We can not be satisfied while our precious children...black children, white children, Latino, Asian, --children of all races still go to bed each night hungry. And they wake up hungry...to face another day without hope. There are still children who aren't learning to read, write, spell or do simple math. There are children in these United States who are witnesses to and victims of domestic violence. How can we be satisfied? We've won the right to vote, they've taken down the 'whites only' signs, we have freedom to go places, work, and attend schools without the limitations of discrimination and open hatred. But we can't stop fighting. We can't stop working. We can't stop praying. We can't stop dreaming.