George C. Fearon gave the speech below on Saturday January 19, 2008 at the Booker T. Washington Community Center in Auburn, NY.  The event was the annual “Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon”.

 

I know that at this time and place I am talking to the choir, but I want to challenge you regarding the tremendous, unfinished task still before us.

 

Dr. King stressed these magnificent words when he quoted from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

 

In reality, as long as there is any discrimination that denies mankind as a whole the total equality that all people are entitled to, freedom cannot ring and the promise is unfulfilled.

 

Freedom cannot ring if there is any discrimination because of the gender or color of the body one happens to be born with.

 

Freedom cannot ring if there is any discrimination that causes a single man, woman or child to have less opportunity than others.

 

Freedom cannot ring if there is any discrimination because of what people believe or do not believe.

 

Freedom cannot ring if there is any discrimination because fellow citizens are or chose to be different than the perceived majority.

 

Freedom cannot ring if we walk alone.

 

We'll walk hand in hand and pledge that we shall never give up until freedom rings.

 

We can never turn back until freedom rings.

 

Some may ask, "When should we be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as we fall short of the ultimate goal—hearing freedom ring.

 

Until all discrimination is eliminated, freedom cannot ring, and every valley is not exalted, and every hill and mountain is not made low, the rough places are not made plain, and the crooked places are not made straight.

 

Deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome someday and freedom will ring!