» Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:39 am Many hundreds of years ago, a greater Skyrim, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, founded itself a great and free empire. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Redguard 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 now, years later, the Redguard is still not equal. The life of the Redguard is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. Now, the Redguard lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. Now, the Redguard is still languished in the corners of Skyrim’s society and finds himself an exile in this beautiful land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash in our contract. When the architects of our empire created this nation, they were signing a promissory note to which every person was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, Redguard men as well as Nord men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that Skyrim has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, Skyrim has given the Reguard people a bad contract, a contract which 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. And so, we've come to cash this contract, a contract that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind Skyrim of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no 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 promises of freedom. 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 quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of the Gods’ children.
It would be fatal for the empire to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Redguard's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 4E 201 is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Redguard needed to blow off steam and will now be content, will have a rude awakening if the empire returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in Skyrim until the Redguard 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 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.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Reguard community must not lead us to a distrust of all Nord people, for many of our Nord 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.
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 Redguard is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of soldier brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the Inns of the towns or of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Redguard'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 self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Nords Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Redguard in Whiterun cannot vote and a Redguard in Winterhold 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 great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of soldier brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Whiterun, go back to Solitude, go back to Markarth, go back to Dawnstar, go back to Falkreath, go back to the slums and ghettos of our 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.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in Skyrim.
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 white mountains of Winterhold, 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 city of Whiterun, a city sweltering with the heat of injustice, 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 Riften, with its vicious racists, with its Jarl having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Solitude little Redguard boys and Redguard girls will be able to join hands with little Nord boys and Nord 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 mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Gods shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to Hammerfall 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 stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
When this happens, when we allow freedom to ring true, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every town and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of the Gods’ children, Redguard men and Nord men, Khajiit and Imperials, Argonians and Elves, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Redguard spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank the Gods Almighty, we are free at last!
