Spartan Becca

So this is kind of long for a blog post...but below is the Speech Choir in its current draft for MLK Weekend. Texts are taken from MLK's "I Have a Dream" and "I Have Been to the Mountaintop," Hughes' "Let America be America Again," and Obama's election acceptance speech. I'd welcome any comments or suggestions for improvement!

Reader 1: Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.
Reader 2: I have a dream.
Reader 3: I have a dream of change.
Reader 2: What is my dream?
Reader 3: My dream is this:
Reader 4: Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free.
Reader 5: America never was America to me.
Reader 4: Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.
Reader 5: It never was America to me.
Reader 4: O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.
Reader 5: There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free."
Reader 4: Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
Reader 5: I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
Reader 6: I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
Reader 5: I am the red man driven from the land,
Reader 6: I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
Reader 4: But I have a dream: Let America be America again.
Reader 5: What happens to a dream deferred?
Reader 6: What happens to the dream of an America where our 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?
Reader 5: What happens to the dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice?
Reader 4: I have a dream today.
Will you defer it?
Or will you stand with me?
Reader 5: With us?
Reader 4: Will you stand and bring change in
Reader 1: Not on the wheels of inevitability, but through our continuous struggle?
Reader 3: What happens to a dream deferred?
Reader 2: What happens to a dream advanced?
Reader 5: The answer is starting to show.
Reader 3: The answer is change.
Reader 2: A dream advanced brings change.
Reader 6: A dream advanced leads those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful or what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward to the hope of a better day.
A dream advanced has been a long time coming…
The road ahead will be long.
Reader 7: We’ve got some difficult days ahead.
Reader 6: Our climb will be steep.
Reader 7: But I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind.
Reader 6: 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.
Reader 7: I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I’ve looked over. And 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.
Reader 6: I promise you – we as a people will get there.
Reader 2: Yes we can.
Reader 7: Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, there days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.
Reader 2: Yes we can.
All Readers: Yes we will.