I Have a Dream RA

Within Martin Luther King, Jr.’s persuasive speech at the March of Washington entitled,
“I Have a Dream,” delivered not only to activists but also to American citizens watching at
home, he peacefully shifts from addressing how broken the nation is to discussing how to fix the
issue in order to achieve equality for the nation’s citizens, destroy the “quicksands of racial
injustice” (6), and create peace within his country for future generations.
Martin Luther King, Jr. powerfully explains the current issues plaguing our nation to
create equality for all of America’s citizens. King creates an extended metaphor in his speech
where he emphasizes that in America, the “bank of justice is bankrupt” (5), and cannot provide
for its citizens as it is a broken and desolate system. By comparing America to a “bank of
justice” throughout his speech, he gives his audience the idea that the money the bank is giving
out is fairness and equality. However, King asserts that America is “bankrupt,” and does not
have the capability to provide equality for ​all​ its citizens. Ironically, the nation can provide for
America’s most privileged classes, but concerning minority rights, America’s “bank of justice is
bankrupt,” and does not provide for disenfranchised groups. This corruption angers his audience
as the “bank of justice” is the key component in America that ensures life, liberty, and happiness,
as promised by our Founding Fathers. If this “bank” is broken, America, with all that it promises,
must be too. King attacks this system, and the lack of “justice” within it, strengthening his own
credibility through his word choice of “justice,” a righteous cause that connotes feelings of
democracy, equality, and fairness. By fighting for this, King shows his audience that he is not
one who ignores inequality, but who fights for a better tomorrow, persuading the audience to join
King in his fight and do everything they can to ensure that the “bank of justice” is fixed. This is
the only way to promise peace to America’s future generations.
King optimistically outlines how to repair America’s broken system to reinstall equality
in the nation and create a safe country for America’s future generations. King anaphorically
asserts to his audience that “Now is the time to make justice a reality” (11), urgining his audience
to join his cause through the repetition of “now,” which builds importance. It also creates an
urgent tone through the momentum added to the sentence by this anaphoric repetition. King
preaches to his audience that “now is the time” to join his cause and “make justice a reality,”
transforming this into his call to action. This anaphoric call to action demands that the audience
fight for equality, as this will ensure the future of the nation. While King demands his audience
to do so, he further develops his credibility through his ​second​ word choice of “justice.”
However, this time he discusses it in regard to the revitalization of the nation, in order to give his
audience a vision for a better country.
In doing so, he increases his reputation as he is fighting for others and the country, a oral
cause many can support as it will lead to equality for all. Unfortunately, this equality is not yet
present in America, so he improves his audience to “make [it]... a reality.” Through the word
“reality,” and through this process he will esure civil rights for all of America’s future
generations.
Like the civil rights movement of the 1960s led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the Black
Lives Matter movement strives to create a better America for minorities. While King’s Civil
Rights movement set the stage for minorities to have equal opportunities in America, the Black
Lives Matter organization has expanded upon this in order to further protect black rights. Both
King’s civil rights movement and the Black Lives Matter organization fight to protect and
provide equality for minorities and blacks specifically with one goal in mind, to create a safe and
secure nation for tomorrow’s youth.