"Sharing the Dream"

By David B. "Dave" Duggan

The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil rights and the struggle to be free from fear and intimidation are not segregated to minorities. But the lessons of the civil rights struggle and the sacrifice of the leaders in its early years are slowly being forgotten. Our organization is dedicated to keeping the dream alive so we and future generations can be free from the prejudices that haunted our past and still survive today.

Through understanding and dialog, our organization in concert with other organizations, have been keeping the dream alive. Music and art are instrumental in this endeavor to spread the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We are also promoting this legacy through teaching and leading by example. My greatest concern for our community, is that in our zeal to win, we forget the lessons learned in the constant struggle to maintain our freedoms. For freedom is not given. We are born free, but it is up to us as individuals, a community and a nation, to preserve and protect our freedoms.

As a child, I was deeply affected by the violence of those who would deny us or freedoms. One by one our great leaders were struck down by assassin's bullets. The war in Vietnam and race wars at home were about to destroy our country. But through it all, the lessons learned from the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other peace makers, began to manifest itself into the fabric of the nation. Through the flames of war and strife, we as a nation have survived when other nations would have fallen.

Let's forward now to the present. The struggle goes on and we face even greater threats foreign and domestic. We as a community and a nation must be ever vigilant in our quest to stay forever free. But in that quest, we should remember those who have fallen keeping this nation free. And in our zeal to win we must maintain and preserve the rights of others so we, as individuals and a nation can stay free. Civil rights, voting rights and the right to unhindered, unobstructed, free and fair elections, are only some of the ideals that the struggle is about.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and I too have a dream. And in many ways these dreams coincide. It has been a struggle and as you know there are those who would deny us our rights even now. But we shall overcome and in the end be justified in our quest to stay free.