On August 28, 1963, approximately 250,000 people gathered around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. to be part of a dream. This was in opposition to civil rights, which had been going on since Jim Crow segregation began in the late 1800s. This philosophy festered and propagated with the support of a conglomerate menagerie of elected officials, journalists, and community leaders who disseminated racial ideologies, encouraging violence and disdain against those on the side of the righteous. They attempted to influence our interpretation of the world and reinforce our insecurities by trying to use fear as a tool to extinguish the flames of freedom and justice. But nothing was going to stop 1963's Time Magazine Man of the Year, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who was not only a reverend, activist, and civil rights leader, but a world figure and shepherd who selflessly guided his flock, demonstrating commitment and defiance, casting aside the fear of failure and judgment as he courageously marched those 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery. He was not just fighting for civil rights, but also confronting the enduring economic, political, and cultural consequences of past racial oppression that had existed centuries before. This humble Baptist minister held those responsible to account and was able to encourage a culture to take ownership and eliminate excuses, where we were able to work together, pray together, struggle together, and stand up for freedom together.
"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 our children, black men, and Christian 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!"
- Dr. Martin Luther King

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