I attended a "King"production yesterday at my church, Stone Temple Baptist Church in North Lawndale, produced by the children from the ages of 3 to 16, with extraordinary help from their "teachers." The first thing I thought about was that these are the same 100 children that the Chicago public schools label as at-risk underachievers. Then I listened as the children read their scripts from a written composition without flaws and with the feelings of comprehension. There was the PAST (Act I) and the audience learned what catapulted Dr. King to greatness. There was only a brief mention of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech". That mention was to say that we would return to it when Act III presented the future. There was the PRESENT (Act II), and the children reviewed the lives of heroes and she-roes of today, like their mothers, our pastor, their teachers, and of course well known names like The Rev. Jesse Jackson, President and First Lady Michelle Obama, and Gabby Douglas. Some included Ex-President Bill Clinton (as you see the children were not limited to noted Blacks). But Act III, the FUTURE, brought tears to my eyes and hope for the future of Dr. King's Dream. About 20 children ( also from three to 16 years old) walked up to the microphone, stated their names and their ages and said what they WOULD BE, not what they wanted to be, when they grew up. Interspersed between these children's ambitions was the reading of the poem authored by our pastor. You weren't there, but imagine, the dulcet tones of Anything Is Possible, a three year old saying proudly, "When I grow up, I will be a vegetanarian (sic), and the following poem, written especially for our Black children being read appropriately in-gs and between. Too often these children will not live to see their dreams come true, but the poem is our promise to them and the real meaning of the present and the future of the " Dream" and the dreamers.
The Dream Still Lives
So you tell me the dream is deferred! So you tell me the dream is delayed! No, you tell
me the dream is denied!
But, as the phoenix rises from the ashes- I stand in living testimony that the dream is still
alive.
Did the dream die in Alabama, or did the dream die in Chicago? Did the dream die in
Memphis on some dark dreary day? Maybe the dream simply died in our heads and in our
hearts!
But as the sun sets, surely it will rise again.
As the phoenix rises from the ashes, I stand as living testimony that the dream is still alive.
As a brilliant sun with its hues of purple and red brings us to the end of a long hard day, I'm
not convinced that the dream is denied, even if it may be delayed.
Don't just ask me what happens, show me, tell me of the things that can be. Show me what I
can do! Show me where I can go! Tell me that anything is possible. Show me what I can do
and who I can be.
So maybe time has passed and the dream seems to have been deferred. Maybe the dream
seems to have been delayed but I'll never stop believing. I'll never stop dreaming. If I keep
dreaming, I assure you the dream will never be denied. In me, the dream is still alive.
So if you ask me a question about the dream-my response is simply this: There is a new
renaissance arising- Not up in Harlem, but in my head and in my heart. There is a new day
dawning. The possibilities of a brand new start have come. So I hope I've answered your
question, the question from the Harlem Renaissance. What happens to the dream that seems to
have been delayed? The dream they told me was deferred, no even denied. I believe anything
is possible. So understand, the dream they said was deferred, it lives in my heart. There is an
explosion taking place and the dream will not die! As the phoenix rises from the ashes the
dream is still alive!
