President Barack Obama will perhaps make the “race” speech of his life on Wednesday, when he hopes to rise to the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech.
It’s almost unfair.
What history will remember is not really in our control. Will a phrase connect? Will the media connect “dream” metaphors? Will 50 years later be a time for an “awakening”?
It’s a speech writer’s challenge.
I thought about that as I attended the Saturday part of the March on Washington festivities, where it was all march and some speeches but not “the” speech. Indeed, history will note that the “I have a dream” speech wasn’t even the keynote and that Dr. King wasn’t even the lead organizer of the march that day. Indeed, in the 50 years since King delivered the speech, “I have a dream” has had a life of its own.
At the Saturday rally, I’m sure Eric Holder, Rev. Al, and John Lewis had much to say, but I have to admit, if I wanted to hear speeches, I never would have left the comfort of my living room.
So why did I go 3,000 miles to Washington, to commemorate a march I barely remember as a child?
