*Note: This is a transcript of a speech Justice gave at a Black History Month celebration.

I am humbled to write today about what was one of the most prolific historical moments within our quest for freedom and equality here in this nation.

Over 50 years ago a great man on whose symbolic shoulders we stand today spoke of a dream. More specifically, a dream that became a beacon and a great light of hope for us as Black people, the descendants of slaves. Slaves who have been seared in the flames of withering injustice. His dream came as an inspirational need to the long night of our slavery, injustice, and inequality. But fifty-odd years later, the Black man, woman, and child, as well as society in general, still haven’t realized the heights of that iconic dream. Fifty-odd years later, the lives of Black people are still crippled by the manacles of the institutions that once perpetuated our enslavement, that segregated us, and that still disenfranchise us.

Fifty-odd years later, Black people still live on a “lonely island of poverty in the midst of a ocean of material prosperity.” Fifty-odd years, later Black people still languish in the corners of American society, and we find ourselves still outcasts in in our own land. So I write this today (in this great man’s spirit and name) to once again emphasize and dramatize the necessity of standing and overcoming these shameful conditions.

Fifty-odd years ago, this great man spoke of words that were written in this nation’s constitution and declaration, “that all men”… yes, Black men equally with white men… are to be “guaranteed the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness….”

So what is his dream to us today? Fifty-odd years later, what is the meaning of his dream when we still face unfreedoms, injustices, and inequalities?

His dream means “we must forever conduct our struggle on that high plane of dignity and discipline.” His dream means that we must not allow our protests and struggle to degenerate into empty violence. It means even in our militancy we must see that common thread of humanity that binds us. We must not act out of destruction but rather uplift and stand always to move all of humanity forward! In this, his dream, he taught us that all of humanity is united in their destiny.

Through his dream he instructed us to always march ahead and do so with the knowledge that we can’t turn back, give up, or remain content. Through his dream he asserted that we must forever be devotees of civil rights, human rights, and righteousness, and we can never be or should ever be satisfied as long as Black people, or any people, are the victims of any unfreedoms, injustices, and inequalities.

We can never be be satisfied as long as our bodies are just a means to fill prisons. We can never be satisfied as long as Black people are victims of unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as all people cannot gain fair opportunity, equal justice, and just treatment within the institutions that make up this nation. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are robbed of their dignity and stripped of their adulthood by the likes of underfunded public schools, school to prison pipeline, senseless crime, poor health care, mass incarceration, and/or any form of abuse that threatens their well-being. “No! No, we are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

I say to you today, my people: Even though we have overcome some of the difficulties of yesterday we still must fight for a better tomorrow. By realizing that his vision was deeply rooted in freedom, justice, and equality for all, it is a beacon guiding us to rise up and live out the true meaning of humanity. “Where all men are created equal,” and that equality is universal law extended to all people.

His dream was one of freedom and justice, one in which brotherhood is realized by all. So today and each day forward, as a testament of his dream we must stand against injustice in all forms. We must no longer tolerate racism and sexism; we must stand to build a better station of life for all. Regardless of color or creed we all must strive to be righteous and under that state of righteousness stand hand and hand for a better tomorrow.

We must stand this day and every day forward to be the voice of the voiceless, that source of change, we must stand to allow freedom to ring from the highest mountain to the lowest valley. We must say the freedom belongs to every man, every woman, and every child.

But not only that… We must stand for freedom in the face of all unfreedoms. Then we as individuals, as a people, as a nation, in that common thread of humanity can say those words of that old negro spiritual, “FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, GREAT GOD ALMIGHTY, WE ARE FREE AT LAST!”