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Read Gov. Janet Mills’ speech at Portland’s Martin Luther King celebration

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“Let us all hope,” wrote Martin Luther King, Jr. from his narrow cell in Birmingham, “that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon…
“Let us all hope,” wrote Martin Luther King, Jr. from his narrow cell in Birmingham, “that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow,” he continued, “the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”
More than half a century later, I wonder – have we yet arrived at the not too distant tomorrow that Dr. King hoped for?
Our nation has made progress in clearing the dark clouds of injustice.
On bridges and buses, school steps and street corners, Americans with courage in their hearts and hope in their souls for a better future put their bodies on the line to ensure that all would someday be free.
From Birmingham to Little Rock and Greensboro to Selma, they awakened generations to the injustices that permeated the nation.
And together, leaders young and old in communities nationwide fought to end the legalized segregation and sanctioned brutality of our past.
Our country established new laws, new rules, and with them, new expectations, for one another.
No longer would we tolerate the disenfranchisement of our brothers and sisters.
No longer would we accept ourselves as a nation that creates second class citizens.
No longer would we ignore the struggles of our neighbors to preserve an unfair status quo.
Today, the dawn of social media has shined a light, and brought the eyes and swift judgment of the world, on those individuals and governments who demonstrate prejudice.
And together, we congratulated ourselves and celebrated a new era of peace.
Our society conquered injustice, rejected racism, and raised our children to neither see color or disdain diversity – or so we were told, right?
In his letter from that Birmingham jail, Dr.

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