“I have a dream...” It is among the most celebrated speeches in American history. “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...” This is the way the “I Have A Dream” speech looked and sounded on August 28, 1963.
In 2001, it looks like this.
(“I have a dream that one day...”) A 1)solitary Martin Luther King 2)digitally 3)altered for a television commercial. “Before you can inspire... (‘We hold these truths to be self-evident...’) before you can touch, (‘That all men are created equal...’) you must first connect. And the company that connects more of the world is Alcatel, a leader in communication networks. (‘I have a dream today...’)”
Julian Bond: When I saw that on TV, I fell back in my chair. I could not believe I was seeing what I saw.
Julian Bond, now chairman of the 4)NAACP, was a student-leader of the civil rights movement.
Julian Bond: I was there when that speech was made. I was right below him. I saw that crowd around me. And when I saw that ad, with all those people 5)excised and heard the voice-over say it was about communication. It wasn’t about communication. This was about justice! That’s what that speech was about, it was justice.
Joseph Lowery: If Martin were alive, he and I would be meeting with Alcatel right now saying, “How many Blacks and women are on your board? How many Black executives do you have in this company...”
6)Reverend Joseph Lowery who worked with Martin Luther King for years says King was a revolutionary, not a salesman.
Joseph Lowery: Martin Luther King must not be used as a 7)huckster or so-called...
Journalist: A huckster?
Joseph Lowery: Yes, that’s what he’s doing, he’s huckstering for Alcatel. He is not selling the message of character and justice and equality, he’s selling Alcatel.
Journalist: What would he be saying if he saw himself selling something for a corporation?
Joseph Lowery: These guys have hired me in death when they couldn’t hire me in life.
Alcatel was able to hire Dr. King in death by paying several hundred thousand dollars to the estate of Martin Luther King Jr. Inc., a company set up by King’s family, his widow Coretta and their four children. It is they who hold the legal rights to his words and image, and it is they who made the decision to license them to Alcatel.
Andrew Young: You know I like the ad.
Former UN ambassador Andrew Young was one of King’s top aides at SCLC, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and he remains a close friend and strong defender of the King family.
Andrew Young: There’s nothing wrong with selling a commercial product even for a 8)saint.
Journalist: What would Martin Luther King Jr. say about this?
Andrew Young: I don’t know.
Journalist: Come on.
Andrew Young: But he doesn’t even have a right to say. His children do, his family does.
Young argues that King didn’t leave his family much in the way of material wealth, but as we said he did copyright much of his work including the “I Have A Dream” speech. That 9)inheritance belongs 10)solely to them, Young says, to do with as they please.
Andrew Young: Nobody can decide but them.
Journalist: You see, I think a lot of people think he belongs to more than just them.
Andrew Young: But he does not. He really does not.
Journalist: People think he belongs to the country.
Andrew Young: No, he does not.
Journalist: You know we have a 11)national holiday.
Andrew Young: You have a national holiday, but you don’t have a right to control his words, his images, his ideas.
