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 forever 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.
但是对于等候在正义之宫门口的心急如焚的人们,有些话我是必须说的。在争取合法地位的过程中,我们不要采取错误的做法。我们不要为了满足对自由的渴望而抱着敌对和仇恨之杯痛饮。我们斗争时必须永远举止得体,纪律严明。我们不能容许我们的具有崭新内容的抗议蜕变为暴力行动。我们要不断地升华到以精神力量对付物质力量的崇高境界中去。
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. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
现在黑人社会充满着了不起的新的战斗精神,但是能因此而不信任所有的白人。因为我们的许多白人兄弟已经认识到,他们的命运与我们的命运是紧密相连的,他们今天参加游行集会就是明证。他们的自由与我们的自由是息息相关的。
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 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."
我们不能单独行动。当我们行动时,我们必须保证向前进。我们不能倒退。现在有人问热心民权运动的人,“你们什么时候才能满足?”只要黑人仍然遭受警察难以形容的野蛮迫害,我们就绝不会满足。只要我们在外奔波而疲乏的身躯不能在公路旁的汽车旅馆和城里的旅馆找到住宿之所,我们就绝不会满足。只要黑人的基本活动范围只是从少数民族聚居的小贫民区转移到大贫民区,我们就绝不会满足。只要密西西比仍然有一个黑人不能参加选举,只要纽约有一个黑人认为他投票无济于事,我们就绝不会满足。不!我们现在并不满足,我们将来也不满足,除非正义和公正犹如江海之波涛,汹涌澎湃,滚滚而来。
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great 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 the storms of persecution 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.
我并非没有注意到,参加今天集会的人中,有些受尽苦难和折磨,有些刚刚走出窄小的牢房,有些由于寻求自由,曾早居住地惨遭疯狂迫害的打击,并在警察暴行的旋风中摇摇欲坠。你们是人为痛苦的长期受难者。坚持下去吧,要坚决相信,忍受不应得的痛苦是一种赎罪。
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 northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
让我们回到密西西比去,回到阿拉巴马去,回到南卡罗莱纳去,回到佐治亚去,回到路易斯安那去,回到我们北方城市中的贫民区和少数民族居住区去,要心中有数,这种状况是能够也必将改变的。我们不要陷入绝望而不能自拔。
I say to you today, my friends, so 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.
朋友们,今天我对你们说,在此时此刻,我们虽然遭受种种困难和挫折,我仍然有一个梦想。这个梦是深深扎根于美国的梦想中的。
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live up to the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.”
我梦想有一天,这个国家会站立起来,真正实现其信条的真谛:“我们认为这些真理是不言而喻的;人人生而平等。
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.
我梦想有一天,在佐治亚的红山上,昔日奴隶的儿子将能够和昔日奴隶主的儿子坐在一起,共叙兄弟情谊。