The 420 Hotel of Occupy Portlandia

Nestled into a north section of Alpha camp is the 420 Hotel, owned by an occupier. Bane, a 31 year old self defined street kid, maintains the space. It is one of the more efficiently engineered and spacious structures at the Occupy Portland site. Several tarps are held up by ropes tied to tree branches and stakes, the central room is about 15 feet square and to one side extends another 20 feet with an A frame. A futon, a cooler, a bale of hay and an overturned bucket serve as seats, surrounding a pole in the middle stacked on a milk crate which supports the roof. The ground is insulated with hay, and the area to the side is lined with sleeping bags and backpacks. This place is designated to be a "crash spot" for new settlers to stay for a maximum of 2 nights, enough time Bane deems to get oneself fixed up with a space and a tent of ones own. The other purpose the hotel serves is to provide an out of the way safe area for people to smoke marijuana, away from the public and the police.

He has one consistent roomate, Mark, a heroin addicted artist who uses the tarps as a canvas for his surrealist depictions. His sketchbook is filled with elongated, dark, swirled figures, there is no doubting his talent. However, it is unfortunate that his inspiration comes in the form of a torturous intoxicant, without which he is reduced to being dope sick and sweating in his sleeping bag until he can find his next hit. He is mild mannered and respectful, he prefers to remain anonymous, and is often sitting quietly in the dark in a corner of the tent.
Bane estimates that around 40 people a day pop in and out of the hotel for one reason or another. The tent is a social place first and foremost, and many people stop by just to enjoy the company and conversation. Discussion about the movement itself is not as present as one could hope for, but everyone is aware of it and many visitors are prime examples of victims of the corrupted system. They tend to approach the protest movement with more violent suggestions than the founders would support, but this stems from their profound anger at a government which has left many of them unemployed and cynical.
Many of the clients of the hotel are chronically homeless, many deeming themselves a streetkid. They may have an affiliation with a particular crew, for example the Lost Boyz, or Sick Boy crew. This provides them with a sense of belonging and loyalty to a larger group, providing protection. The two parks have designated areas for certain crews, and members of opposing ones walk through them with caution. Many of the kids I have spoken with grew up in foster care or broken homes and were fending for themselves since being a young teen. Some of the people are "freight hoppers" and regularly travel around the country by hitching a ride on a freight train. They discuss certain types of cars one hopes to get on, how their voices get horse shouting over the din but describing how one eventually gets lulled to sleep by the clonking and banging of the cars on the tracks. Hitchhiking is also a regular mode of transportation, Bane has traveled as far east as Chicago on these methods.
Many visitors come to inquire as to where to find certain substances, or to offer them for sale. People regularly make business transactions of marijuana, mushrooms, acid, and alcohol as well as providing information on where to get harder drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine. Drugs are a form of finances as well as a medication to numb the symptoms of trauma many people here have experienced. They are also a form of social lubricant, as a bowl of marijuana is often offered around the circle. This has etiquette built in as well, unspoken of course, but if someone wants to smoke it is understood that they will share with whoever else is in the space, even if you don't know the others. If someone doesn't ever offer their own goods and always accepts from others, there is a subtle scolding of the person which occurs. If someone smokes more than one toke it is also shunned. Often, a dealer will send a bowl or a joint around the space before or after making a sale. This can serve as providing a sample, showing their client the product they have to offer, and encourage a transaction. Another tactic I observed was that if one person was selling, and their friend was in need of some money, they would negotiate a bargain. One option would be, only if there was considerable trust within the relationship, that the dealer would front product to their friend, who would then sell it and keep a percentage of the profit, while returning most of it to the dealer. Another way is for the friend to go find someone who wants to make a purchase, and tells them it is slightly more expensive than what the dealer actually sells for, and then bring the customer to the seller, and the friend pockets the difference. The drug trade is based on word of mouth, if one person didn't have what the customer was looking for they would offer up some information on who might, and the person would follow the tips around the camp until they were successful in their search.
Cigarettes also play a central role for many in the camp. A concept borrowed, like many, from the Rainbow Festivals, is one called "nick at night" which is represented by one man, Joe, at the Occupy settlement. Joe rolls several hundred cigarettes with tobacco a day and wanders around the camp yelling "if you need a cigarette, I got a cigarette, if you got a cigarette, I need a cigarette!". It is customary to invite him into ones tent, and ideally make a trade of something in exchange for the cigarette. Another option is if you accept his gift, pay him back with a cigarette at a later time. This last process is common among all smokers, since "bumming one" is extremely common. Its sort of smoker etiquette that if you have some to spare you are essentially expected to give one out if asked. A common excuse is "I only have one left" which is understood to be an acceptable excuse. I saw one smoker use this only to get called out by the person asking who pointed out the cigarettes tucked behind each ear. Hanging out in a tent at occupy pretty much guarnatees that you will be inundated with cigarette smoke. Bane would usually encourage people to smoke by the entrance to the tent if there were nonsmokers inside.

Some interesting characters frequented the 420 hotel. John and Annie, Cruz and Jamie, Bob and Ali were three couples who could often be found around the tent. The first pair were addicted to methamphetamine, had recently returned from Northern California where they were hoping to find marijuana to sell to support their habit. They had left their dog, Job, a one eyed pitbull in the custody of Bane at the 420 hotel. The couple were self-described "dirty kids", and regularly got high on meth and stayed awake for up to a week at a time. They did not camp at Occupy but lived instead in an abandoned space underneath a bridge. They talked about "flailing" which is being high on meth, and violence most of the time. They never used the drug in the tent however. They usually talked about beating people up, teaching people a lesson, and punching someone in the mouth for what they said. I never actually saw them be violent so it stands to wonder how much is just talk. They insulted the Occupy movement, making fun of it and dismissing it as "a bunch of housey kids thinking its cool to live outdoors". They thought it was stupid for people who had homes to go to to come live at the camp site. They took a lot of pride in being streetkids, and often reminded people that they were there before the movement and would be there after the camp shut down. The clientele in the tent tended to change if John and Annie were present due to their crass and blunt nature.
Cruz and Jamie were addicted to heroin, and he sold marijuana to support the habit. It appeared that she had left her "indoor" life and family when she became involved with Cruz and started using the drug. They spent most of their time wandering around the city trying to sell to earn money for their addiction. They were expelled from the camp by John and Annie because they had been staying in their space under the bridge and had left it messy and with dirty needles. John upended the tent one night, yelled at the couple to leave and never come back or he would beat them, and then invited scavengers over to take anything of value. Cruz and Jamie were spotted after that a few times in the area but never returned to the tent or the camp.

Bob and Ali were not a couple but seemed to spend most of their time together. Bob was starting a new life over after a divorce and time in jail. He sold ecstasy and acid purely for income as he had stopped using hard drugs after struggling with addiction. He often provided helpful gear, donating a futon and then a grill to the 420 hotel. Ali set up her tent behind it and seemed to be sort of re-living her younger years through the occupy experience.

One of the leaders of A-camp is known as Gutterpunk. His face was covered by a beard and tattoos on his cheeks. His voice, like many of those representing A-camp, is harsh and croaking, a result of the substance use. He is an alcoholic and addicted to heroin, as well as cigarettes. Despite his intimidating appearance, he was one of the kinder hearted drug addicts. He did beat people up, and carried around a metal chain with a padlock on one end known as a "smiley" but, if you were on his team, he would actually be helpful and funny.

Having pets was common of many occupants of the camp. One had a black kitten which rode on his shoulder wearing a matching studded black jacket to his owners, her name was Marley Killface. One man carried around a rat and would tell anyone who listened all of the great abilities of their species. The rat liked to snuggle in the hood of his sweatshirt, giving a new meaning to the term “hoodrat”. Many people had dogs, and increasing numbers of people acquired puppies. Tragedy struck however in the form of the lethal virus Parvo, which quickly kills dogs who have not been vaccinated. One woman who was in recovery lost her white huskey mix to this disease and relapsed into heroin. I developed a particular fondness for a one eyed pitbull named Job. She had lost an eye as a puppy to an older male dog and had since been adopted by one of the couples. She was the only dog I met who liked to sit in your lap, despite her size and weight it felt wonderful to have a sweet canine cuddle up to you especially when it was cold out.

Some people with mental illness also made their home in this camp. An amusing term for them was a "wingnut". One man wore a pink jacket and a pink grandma type hat and danced around to a battery powered stereo. I enjoyed a particular moment when he performed his jig in front of a group of policemen, the expression on some of their faces was priceless. Another woman who called herself "Mama" was a frequent presence in the 420 hotel, known to be offering absurd trades in an endless pursuit of substances. She pitched her tent for a few days right next to the hotel and her croaks and yells infiltrated the area.

Will Dropouts Save America? NYTIMES oct 22

"AFTER all, there is not one job market in America, but two. The formal market we always hear about — jobs that get filled through cold résumé submissions in reply to posted ads — accounts for only about 20 percent of jobs. The other 80 percent get filled in the informal job market.

If a young person happens to retain enough creative spirit to start a business upon graduation, she does so in spite of her schooling, not because of it. "

thoughts

• ya know, a large majority of students I know from Harvard, are starting their own programs
• that or in medical school
• but i wonder what it is about that institution that grooms students to actually beleive that they are capable and deserving of startng their own
• i think thats what it comes down to, many of us don't believe that its in the cards for us to have a fulfilling dream come true type of profession
• its something we fantasize about and then when it comes to reality especially in this economy and with student loans, we simply grovel and take anything that pays us a check
• and we subdue our dreams with the notion that this is just "for now" that "someday" we will be able to do what we want
• but how many people actually ever get there?
• it is much easier to take risks and to fail in our younger years, when we don't have little mouths to feed and a mortgage and dogs to walk everyday and a marriage to keep intact
• but today the youth in many places are numbed by continous, repetitive activities that lead to no actual productive outcome, such as video games, or watching movies, youth spend hours and energy pouring into these manufactured scenarios and have nothing to show for it after beating the ultimate level
  
  
  • then what? its on to the next mindnumbing hour sucking simulated success.
  • we are glued to our computers, our cell phones, constantly reading about what others are doing right now
  • but when does that "someday" become tomorrow?
    • when do we get a jolt to put us into action to actually manifest that dream
    • we're not going to get a tweet to remind us that time is plodding by or a reminder on our iphone to write that book you've always imagined, or take a class which will open up doors
    • no, we live in a culture of fear, of the applauding of those who conform, and thos who are successful
    • but behind each success is failures
    • yet during those failures, everyone is actually pitifully encouraging us to give it up, to take that "real" job and stop with our fantasies
    • but, for those greats who finally achieve, the steve jobs and bill gates, suddenly they are revered
    • what is wrong with that picture?
    • that trying and failing or any type of rebellion from the normal realm of what is expected, any deviation from our culture our classes concept of what defines success, be that a business suit or a law degree, is criticized, alienated, ostracized
    • until those few crazy ones manage to create something incredible, and then suddenly everyone wants to say how they knew it all along
    • ‎"The rebellions that are happening around the globe today, it is people becoming awake and aware, stopping to think about what is happening,
      stopping to finally analyze and consider if everything they have been raised to placidly accept is actually "just how it is", and if that means "how it has to be".
      We are the ones who are scratching our heads and stepping away from the TV and turning off our auto-pilot to question, to wonder, to critically consider...and, we are coming to the seemingly radical conclusion that "this" in fact, is not necessary. That this scrambling, clinging, paycheck to paycheck lifestyle does not have to characterize our few decades on this earth. It is dawning on us after centuries of technological progress dulled our most innate human qualities, that you, that I, despite not holding public office or having many zeroes in our bank account, actually still have power. That what sets us apart from our comrade animals is supposedly our minds and ability to reason and discern. We are finally coming together as humans, living and working together in community, on a small scale local level, and seeing our neighbor as a person, worthy of being assisted, not just annoying sounds heard through a wall. And are we being applauded? supported? held up as heroes in news stories to celebrate our rebirth into consciousness? No, instead we are being undermined, penalized, ignored, dismissed as chaotic, disorganized, unproductive. But isn't that how all great changes come about?
      First, the conclusion that what currently exists is failing, and thus to create solutions one must imagine what something could be, before it is. It is like trying to put together a puzzle with many pieces which do not yet fit together,
      one has to cut them and shape them and constantly modify them until all four sides fit with their partners, not only physically into place but maintaining the right parts of an image on their surface, it is a messy process, filled with mistakes, trial and error, sometimes starting over completely, but, in the end, when each piece connects smoothly, an entirely new image will be born. And, like many finished masterpieces, only then will the people praise it. We are the builders, the construction workers, the designers, the artists, the engineers, the dreamers, the revolutionaries, and without us, nothing would ever change."

Recently, I've been having trouble motivating myself to achieve small goals that I set. I find myself overwhelmed by fantasies of what could be, yet somehow inhibited from taking a first step towards manifesting that potential. It's as if I have a block that is in my way. I'm able to gaze up the mountain to all of the various plateaus and paths, but I can't get a foot off the ground.

what is occupy wall street movement?

from occupy portlands fb page

Adam Simmons

Someone asked me why they should get behind Occupy Portland. Here is my response "Here's what I see as the bottom line: We have always been taught as children, that this country is a land of freedom, for the people, by the people. It's a sad fact that growing up into adulthood includes accepting that money rules the land. This is not the truth and not what founded the country. This country, even world, cannot be run by those with the largest bank accounts unchecked. The oligarchs are the target. This is not a battle against individual religions, opposing political views or tightly held beliefs.

it's about the purging of tyranny (in this case, of the aforementioned oligarchs), that our country wrote into its DNA at its onset.

But, ultimately it's a personal choice. You either feel like this systemic problem is at it's breaking point, or you don't. Has the level of corruption and reduction of quality of life reached a level that is no longer acceptable? It has reached that point for me and I will exhaust myself with the tools I have, in the effort to correct the wrong."

Heather Lightcap

Occupy Wall Street is meant more as a way of life that spreads through contagion, creates as many questions as it answers, aims to force a reconsideration of the way the nation does business and offers hope to those of us who previously felt alone in our belief that the current economic system is broken.

and my own comments on an online debate about the OWS movement:

•  "Those demands pissed me off. I feel like they completely discredit the whole thing."

  Yesterday at 3:51pm ·  ·  1 person
• 

  Lali Be I tried to explain not to take that specific site as representative of what every person involved in the movement feels....I personally had nothing to do with that list of demands, but I am still passionate about the cause of uniting disenfranchised and hurting people to come together and discuss what the best specific avenues to address the injustices will be...I'm sure there will be laws and more particular topics addressed, for example I have heard many people addressing the issue of corporate spending in elections as one of the main problems....thats just one website, try to explore more information about the movement and maybe you will feel better, feel free to post your thoughts on any of the discussion boards or fb sites....constructive criticism is helpful
  

do you realize people are participating in this movement in: DC (McPherson Square which is near the white house and the capitol building, the security is intense so hard to get any closer) in Boston, San Franciscio, New Orleans, Houston, Seattle, Maine, Miami, Santa Fe, Albequerque, Portland, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, Tucson, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Diego, Denver, Kansas City, Chicago, Charlotte, Toronto, Vancouver, Manchester UK, and more that I don't feel like typing out. at the OWS site there are professors, former bankers, Ph.D students, lawyers, activists who participated in the civil rights movement, teachers, and more that I don't feel like typing, so it is NOT in fact, a bunch of "unemployed hipsters" protesting at the wrong place. It is a uniting of people who are fed up with the corruption and misplaced priorities of the government, the misallocation of finances to causes which do not benefit the general public, yes there have been many people who don't turn out to vote, but it is precisely a movement like this which is needed to kick them in the ass and get them involved because they actually feel like there are people out there like them who care and believe they can make change. So before you shit all over people who have the passion to camp out because they believe that there is potential for change, why don't you do some more research than whats on the mainstream media, talk to people all over the country who are involved, and since you work for similar ideals, why not be supportive rather than condescending.

is it possible that this could be the beginning of something larger? that maybe the movement could evolve into more than just the occupations and sign waving? that its inspiring people to feel empowered, so maybe they will go out and get together and form more focused coalitions which will play by the systems rules? and ok, maybe the people going to work on K street as a whole don't care, but 1-some individuals could be moved to reconsider their profession, I met several social workers who were former wall street workers and did not feel morally right doing certain work and switched careers, seeing all of the people that their industry is hurting out there sleeping on the street could make them think, also their presence is reaching others, the government certainly knows that the movement is going on, city councilman in NYC were present at OWS, and local government is being involved, for example the mayor is in contact with the occupy portland movement, and it has a voice, maybe not a cohesive soundbyte of a message, but government knows that its happening and that this is another voter base they may want to consider appealing to, because the people are upset and organizing together and it is growing.

I see this stage as the beginning of the movement, the awakening of people, the recruitment of many dejected, hopeless, struggling people and bringing them together to instill the conviction that they can create change, by uniting so many thousands, they begin to have a voice, maybe the next stage will be addressing each movements local government and leading up to the federal level, but laughing it off and dismissing it as misdirected and futile certainly does not help bring it to that next level.

Steve Jobs, you are gone too soon

“Here's to the crazy ones ~ the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers ~ the round pegs in the square holes ~ the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them ~ but the only thing you can't do is ignore them ~ because they change things ~ they push the human race forward ~ and while some may see them as the crazy ones ~ we see genius ~ because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world ~ are the ones who do” ~ Steve Jobs


‎"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do, If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on." 


'‎"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition" 


- Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs

turn off your TV!

I am so frustrated that many of my peers are ignoring the movement and just concerned about whats on TV

Occupy the Brooklyn Bridge!

my mission

Maya Angelou:

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style." 

Timeless Words from past Heroes

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGaRtqrlGy8




The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by the 
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

pix of wall st from fb/flckr accounts

livestream global revolution

http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution


‎"Organized nonviolent resistance is the most powerful weapon that oppressed people can use in breaking lose from the bondage of oppression."... "Non cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good" - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

occupy wall st!!!!!!

Whoever controls the volume of money in our country is absolute master of all industry and commerce...when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate.”
―1881 President James A. Garfield- Two Weeks before his Assassination

youth unemployment

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/an-education-in-the-ways-of-the-workplace/


‎"Among workers aged 16 to 24, the unemployment rate is almost 20 percent. For young Latinos, it’s over 24 percent, and for young African Americans, it’s over 32 percent. Some 4.4 million youths are currently unemployed."


We all know the education system needs fixing; 1.3 million high school dropouts per year is untenable.


, 30 percent of U.S. public school students fail to graduate from high school (pdf), and more than half of those who enroll in higher education fail to earn a degree or credential within eight years.

MLK Jr Had a Dream

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. 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 selfhood 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.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
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, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, 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.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk