I have a Dream

“I have a dream.”
These immortal words were uttered by civil rights champion, Martin Luther King in 1963 at a rally of 200,000 people in Washington DC.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin.” he declared. At the time America was deeply divided. On one side of the divide were the relatively affluent ‘white people’ and on the other, the poorer and disadvantaged ‘black people’. African American children could not go to the same school as ‘white’ children.

A black woman could not stay seated on a bus if a white person got on the bus, the black woman had to stand and give her place. Children could not swim in the same swimming pool, or the same school or live in the same area because of the colour of there skin.

Martin Luther King will be forever remembered as a civil rights leader, who first inspired and led a moral, political and demonstrations to voice the concerns of the ‘forgotten Americans” – the African Americans. Martin Luther King dreamed that one day an African American would be President of the United States of America.

Some 45 years later, 40 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King, the United States of America has a new president elect, an African American, Senator Barack Obama.

It has been a very long struggle for African Americans to realise a dream of democratic and economic freedom. Around the world we hear that “It’s a New Dawn” for America. Many millions of people were inspired to vote in an election that would yield for the very first time, a man who transcends all race, religion and in the end, politics. A man who inspired hope and a dream of change that would be inclusive of all Americans regardless of skin colour or race.

Less than 150 years after slavery was outlawed, Senator Obama, has pushed through the colour barrier that was unthinkable a generation ago when the Southern States of America were segregated and African American people were banned from voting.

On November 4, Senator Barack Obama, himself, fully aware of a new era, told the crowds who came to see him, when it was announced that he was President elect:
“It’s been a long time coming… but at this defining moment, change has come to America.”

This election has brought great hope to a country deeply divided by race, politics and wealth. A country where less than 10 percent of the people own 90 percent of the wealth. A country where 12 months after Hurricane Katrina, very little building and resettlement of the majority of African American people who lived in New Orleans had occurred.

The very bigotry and divisiveness that permeates the American culture, is found around the world in many countries, Australia included. No country is immune from this bias and prejudice.

It is appalling that we judge people by the colour of their skin, or by their economic status, by their cultural difference, by their disabilities or for no other reason than they come from another country.

I look around our school and see that in four short years, we have embraced so many new students from so many different countries, cultures and religions. While we may have many differences, I thing we have much more in common than many might think.

Everyone wants to be loved and to feel as though they belong. It is basic human nature for this to be so. Everyone wants to be acknowledged for the good things that they do.

So why is it so hard for us to think the best of other people?
Why is it so hard to give other people the benefit of the doubt?
Why is it so difficult for us to forgive those people who have wronged us in some way?
Why is it so difficult to show kindness to those people closest to us? Be it at home or at school?

We need to embrace change too. This change begins in our own backyard, and in our own school. We need to believe that we can have better relationships with our peers, our friends and family and make an effort to make a positive change.

The world can only change on a large scale, if the individual, you and me, make a change too. This is not an easy thing to do sometimes but I ask all of you in the closing weeks of the term, to make an extraordinary effort to forgive those who have in some way slighted you.

Repair your relationships, your friendships and do what you can to make this school a more positive and caring place to be.

Change can only come to a country like America or Australia, or to our school for that matter, if the will of each individual, and the collective will of all individuals is universally unified in bringing about change. Change for the better. We can all make a greater effort at home and at school to bring about a change for the better.
I have a dream – four simple words but words that inspire hope for a better future. I think each of us wants a better future and each of us can do something towards making a better future. Change begins with us.