Dear Sara,
You don't have to acknowledge this but I want to send it anyway because I need to sort out how I feel. I'm not doing so well everything looks grey and I feel worse and worse. I'm calling Patty's office at 10am but even when she calls me back I won't get to say anything, she has no time to listen, her job is just pills and while she really cares she is pressed for time, I understand that
Everything has become a big burden to me and is getting worse. My ideal way would be just to stay in bed in sleep because when I get up people expect me to do things or at least shower and move around. If I wasn't struggling to go to work I wouldn't even bother to shower, that's how unmotivated I am. On my days off I can't even bring myself to get in there shower, I am going nowhere so why bother
But then I don't want to go anywhere at all. Amanda isn't working so she has taken over a lot of the stuff I used to do for Max like making sure he is on the bus (that is really getting me down and exhausting me. It seems like everyone else has so much energy and I wonder where they are getting it from. When I see things that people are doing on TV or irl first thing I wonder is why and how are they doing things that I would just skip over, I have no energy to even think of shopping or just going out for the sake of getting out of the house
The politics and stuff I am usually interested in and conspiracies etc if too much to think about I just see jobs disappearing daily and somewhere in my brain I realize in the states and all over the world the economy is crashing in slow motion. That's about as far as it goes. I think maybe Pres. Obama will take care of it all, and then I think she is shoveling shit against the tide. I am confused about it all
I am hanging out in the hair forum I used to where everyone is nice and polite and I spend time dressing up my profile page and looking for siggy generators stuff like that that is mindless and nobody cares about
The biggest indication of me disappearing is that last night it occurred to me that every time I thought about something I would like to eat, my usual junk food, it seems just grey, nothing much seems appetizing. I just stuff in any old thing. I am still eating but there isn't any pleasure even in that like it was. This would work for me if I just didn't eat when things are not appetizing but it doesn't work that way to me
It was earlier in the year that I felt I was enclosed in clear glass so I could see out but was cut off from the outside world. Now I feel like I am in a grey mist
I am hoping Patty can up my pills or something because even in my mind I know this isn't normal even for me
Thanks for reading Linda
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
CNN front page.........1/20/2009
updated 1:00 a.m. EST, Wed January 21, 2009
First couple dances the night away 
Hours after delivering his inaugural address, Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are spending the evening dancing at inaugural balls. In his speech, Obama promised to tap the virtues and resiliency of Americans as his administration ushers in an era of accountability and improved dialogue with the world. developing story
- Style: Reviewing the first lady's fashion
- Style: Celebrities turnout for inaugural parties
- Slideshow: High hopes
- In HD: Let freedom ring
- The speech: Obama's full address
| Text - Obama's Inauguration Day | More videos
CRIME
A new district attorney says he will take a fresh look at the investigation into the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey
CNET
A few Web sites are streaming today's historic events, from the swearing-in to the inaugural balls
OPRAH.COM
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher talk about why they felt they needed to be in Washington for the inauguration
Latest News
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- Brown: Magic now, intense scrutiny later
- President, first lady hit the dance floor
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- Explore satellite image | Before and after
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- Anderson Cooper 360° Blog: On the scene in D.C.
- CNN Wire: Obama orders Guantanamo cases...
Text of President Obama's Speech
(CNN) -- Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and the nation's first African-American president Tuesday. This is a transcript of his prepared speech.
In his speech Tuesday, President Obama said America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
1 of 2
My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. 
Watch the full inauguration speech »
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
Barak Obama becomes President!!! I am sitting here watching the crowds gather in Washington to watch the Inauguration, with a front row seat in front of my TV No way would I be in all those thousands and thousands of people. I am very happy to see it all on TV. I would never miss a minute of this great day when Barak Obama becomes the first Black President of the United States. This is my day off but earlier my supervisor called and asked if I would come in. I told her I wasn't going anywhere, I was gonna sit here in my recliner and watch the E-nag-u-ration!!!! She just said "Oh, I'll try somebody else then". I told Amanda you couldn't blast my butt out of that recliner today. I told her some things that I remember about Bermuda, growing up back in the 60's with discrimination and was at that fair on the docks in Hamilton when the riots began. I remember Momma telling us let's get out of here because she figured trouble was starting and this was the beginning of the riots. Black people let the Whitefolks know we weren’t gonna take it anymore, change was coming! This is how I feel today watching all those hundreds of thousands of people of all colours and ethnicities cheering and celebrating in the freezing cold and waiting for 12 noon. They all want to be part of history and be able to say, yes, the first Black President was sworn in, " and I was there" Celebrate with me!!!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Today
MLK speech was always just a part of history that I grew up with in history books and every MLK day it all just went by me.
But today, on the eve of Barack Obama's Inaguration this speech has taken on a great new meaning. This is why I posted it below. To me this is as good as it gets and I never thought I'd see the day when a black person would be President of the Free World. He will need a great deal of fortitude and faith and all his genius to undertake this great office.
Today and tomorrow we will celebrate this enormous page in history and we will worry about Wednesday when it gets here. Now is the time for celebration and great happiness that no more can we say "The coloured man will never rule" as they said when I was young
But today, on the eve of Barack Obama's Inaguration this speech has taken on a great new meaning. This is why I posted it below. To me this is as good as it gets and I never thought I'd see the day when a black person would be President of the Free World. He will need a great deal of fortitude and faith and all his genius to undertake this great office.
Today and tomorrow we will celebrate this enormous page in history and we will worry about Wednesday when it gets here. Now is the time for celebration and great happiness that no more can we say "The coloured man will never rule" as they said when I was young
Text, "I have a Dream" by Martin Luther King
The Text of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s
"I Have a Dream" Speech
Aug. 28, 1963
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of Negro slaves, who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed to the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.
Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of it's colored citizens. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.
There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for white only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of your trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality.
You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our modern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow. I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every mountainside.
And when this happens, when we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
"I Have a Dream" Speech
Aug. 28, 1963
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of Negro slaves, who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed to the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.
Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of it's colored citizens. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.
There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for white only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of your trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality.
You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our modern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow. I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every mountainside.
And when this happens, when we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
Dear Momma,
You said your eye operation will be tomorrow so I know I have to hurry for you to see my message. Don't be nervous about this operation it is laser these days, no going to hospital and having them cut off like in the old days. I know you will have butterflies in your stomach is anyone going to hospital with you I know if Aloma was there she would and I certainly would myself. You don't know how guilty I have felt over the years because you could have used my help or support and here I am stuck out here can't do anything for you.
Will you be able to see any of Obama Inauguration there is a lot of celebration going on in Washington DC I saw where they had a big concert on the Washington Mall. Thousands of people were there to hear the music and those that couldn't were just there to be a part of history. I bet in all your years you never thought you would ever see a black president. I can remember when I was small you said "coloured people would never rule" I forget what relative you were quoting maybe you can tell me.
I just saw some 90 year old people on TV just now talking about they never knew this day would come and they were happy to have lived so long to see a black man become the head of this country. They were 6 old people who had lived through Katrina all over 90. One old lady when she was asked what question she could ask President Obama if she could she said that she would love to have a dance with him!
When I see all the old black people I realise they live much longer and in better condition than old white people if they live so long. Those 90 year old ladies had little if any wrinkles in their faces and they certainly have all their buttons. I am so glad Dr. Simmons finally convinced you that you are of sound mind we can't help being a nervous people we have always been highly strung can't change nature can you.
I know I have plenty of years left and so do you look at all the examples you have around you black women have had to put up with so much and many are raising grandchildren and even some great-grands because there is no choice and they just have to do what they have to do.
I know you don't like the term black people like they say these days, because we come up in the age when calling coloured people black was a great insult and we always had our dignity and rose above white people in the way we did things and had our respect about one another. I think about all the coloured ladies that helped me when I was small and they always encouraged me to behave and that education was the way out of being the underdog.
I remember Aunt Catherine telling me to put my legs together when she saw me standing up with my legs apart, telling me ladies didn't stand up that way.
I remember Uncle Freddie helping all my cousins to study and get ahead and everyone of them got a good education. He knew education was the way out for coloured people and he was right.
I remember Nurse Richardson and how dignified she was and how she was a much-revered person in our community because she became a nurse when few coloured people knew how to go about it. They are all gone now and if I wrote about everyone I knew and looked up to back in those days this would be a very long book to read.
I also remember we had discrimination in Bermuda even we seemed to know where we were wanted and stayed out of where we were not wanted. None of us "bucked" the system. When we went to town you knew where all the toilets were and we always managed to sneak past and use Smith's (or was it Triminghams?) toilet which was pink inside and where the white people came and went they thought nothing of it but it was a big thing for us, being able to use the bathroom where darker people couldn't get away with it. No one challenged us nor Aloma either.
We always went to Spot or Blue Moon to eat, I never knew at the time but there were few places we as coloured people could go into and we certainly kept our place and stayed where we belonged. We never had the nerve to be loud and make people notice us when there were white people around. I also remember the riots of 1968 and how we were at the party in Hamilton or fair or whatever it was and you grabbed us and said it was time for us to leave. I was there where it all started and while there are things that I wasn't able to remember maybe you can. Or was it 1965 I can't remember
Anyway I can go on and on but this is why Obama a black man to be president means so much to me and millions of other people who remember the old days, and grandparents who were in the trenches in the 30's, 40's and 50's like you were.
All this comes to mind on a day like today when it is Martin Luther Kings 40th year since "I have a Dream" speech. It is a great pity he didn't live to see this day, he would have rejoiced to see Barack Obama be made President, a coloured person just like us.
I hope you are able to see the swearing-in ceremony tomorrow even tho one of your eyes will be bandaged up. I wish all the old people all long gone, could have seen this day for themselves.
President Obama certainly has his work cut out for him he has so much on his plate but today and tomorrow we can celebrate where he came from and what he is about to do
Momma this is a great and long letter and I know you like long letters to read so I hope you are happy with this one hehehe love always Linda xoxoxoxo
You said your eye operation will be tomorrow so I know I have to hurry for you to see my message. Don't be nervous about this operation it is laser these days, no going to hospital and having them cut off like in the old days. I know you will have butterflies in your stomach is anyone going to hospital with you I know if Aloma was there she would and I certainly would myself. You don't know how guilty I have felt over the years because you could have used my help or support and here I am stuck out here can't do anything for you.
Will you be able to see any of Obama Inauguration there is a lot of celebration going on in Washington DC I saw where they had a big concert on the Washington Mall. Thousands of people were there to hear the music and those that couldn't were just there to be a part of history. I bet in all your years you never thought you would ever see a black president. I can remember when I was small you said "coloured people would never rule" I forget what relative you were quoting maybe you can tell me.
I just saw some 90 year old people on TV just now talking about they never knew this day would come and they were happy to have lived so long to see a black man become the head of this country. They were 6 old people who had lived through Katrina all over 90. One old lady when she was asked what question she could ask President Obama if she could she said that she would love to have a dance with him!
When I see all the old black people I realise they live much longer and in better condition than old white people if they live so long. Those 90 year old ladies had little if any wrinkles in their faces and they certainly have all their buttons. I am so glad Dr. Simmons finally convinced you that you are of sound mind we can't help being a nervous people we have always been highly strung can't change nature can you.
I know I have plenty of years left and so do you look at all the examples you have around you black women have had to put up with so much and many are raising grandchildren and even some great-grands because there is no choice and they just have to do what they have to do.
I know you don't like the term black people like they say these days, because we come up in the age when calling coloured people black was a great insult and we always had our dignity and rose above white people in the way we did things and had our respect about one another. I think about all the coloured ladies that helped me when I was small and they always encouraged me to behave and that education was the way out of being the underdog.
I remember Aunt Catherine telling me to put my legs together when she saw me standing up with my legs apart, telling me ladies didn't stand up that way.
I remember Uncle Freddie helping all my cousins to study and get ahead and everyone of them got a good education. He knew education was the way out for coloured people and he was right.
I remember Nurse Richardson and how dignified she was and how she was a much-revered person in our community because she became a nurse when few coloured people knew how to go about it. They are all gone now and if I wrote about everyone I knew and looked up to back in those days this would be a very long book to read.
I also remember we had discrimination in Bermuda even we seemed to know where we were wanted and stayed out of where we were not wanted. None of us "bucked" the system. When we went to town you knew where all the toilets were and we always managed to sneak past and use Smith's (or was it Triminghams?) toilet which was pink inside and where the white people came and went they thought nothing of it but it was a big thing for us, being able to use the bathroom where darker people couldn't get away with it. No one challenged us nor Aloma either.
We always went to Spot or Blue Moon to eat, I never knew at the time but there were few places we as coloured people could go into and we certainly kept our place and stayed where we belonged. We never had the nerve to be loud and make people notice us when there were white people around. I also remember the riots of 1968 and how we were at the party in Hamilton or fair or whatever it was and you grabbed us and said it was time for us to leave. I was there where it all started and while there are things that I wasn't able to remember maybe you can. Or was it 1965 I can't remember
Anyway I can go on and on but this is why Obama a black man to be president means so much to me and millions of other people who remember the old days, and grandparents who were in the trenches in the 30's, 40's and 50's like you were.
All this comes to mind on a day like today when it is Martin Luther Kings 40th year since "I have a Dream" speech. It is a great pity he didn't live to see this day, he would have rejoiced to see Barack Obama be made President, a coloured person just like us.
I hope you are able to see the swearing-in ceremony tomorrow even tho one of your eyes will be bandaged up. I wish all the old people all long gone, could have seen this day for themselves.
President Obama certainly has his work cut out for him he has so much on his plate but today and tomorrow we can celebrate where he came from and what he is about to do
Momma this is a great and long letter and I know you like long letters to read so I hope you are happy with this one hehehe love always Linda xoxoxoxo
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