'I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land.' Dr King had said a day before his assassination on the Memphis motel balcony in 1968.
As if taking a few lines from that master of rhetoric, Obama, clearly Dr King's rhetorical heir, noted: 'The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there.'
As he spoke, CNN briefly cut from Obama to images from the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where Dr King had once preached to his congregation. Yesterday, at the church, those who had seen those dark days of racial hatred broke down on hearing the news.
It was here that Dr King held meetings and drew up a strategy for his crusade to demolish the barriers of race. It was here that he argued that violence had no part in that crusade and victory would be achieved by Gandhian means. It was here he told black mothers and children, workers and farmers that a time would come when no opportunity would ever again be denied to them.
Image: The Ebenezer Baptist Church in downtown Atlanta where Dr King served as a preacher.
Also read: An election without parallel
Advertisement
