I have a Dream-Kenyan version

I Have A Dream
by kimani wa Wanjiru

It is thirty-eight years since Dr Martin Luther King Jr., delivered his most famous speech— “I Have A Dream,” on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Kimani wa Wanjiru, a Kenyan journalist with Kymscorpio Media Network (Kymsnet) revisits this unforgettable speech and wonders how he would have said it if he was in Kenya at the famous Kamukunji grounds.

Over three decades ago, a great Kenya in whose symbolic shadow we stand today the Independence Charter. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to thousands of Kenyans who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.
It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their colonisation. But over three decades later, Kenyans live on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. Three decades later, Kenyans are still languishing in the underdeveloped corners of our society and find themselves to be refugees in their own land. So we have here today to dramatise a shameful condition. In a sense, we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a cheque. When the architects of our Republic wrote the magnificent words of our Constitution— that has been amended severally, they were signing a promissory note to which every Kenyan was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men— yes, rich men as well a poor men— would be guaranteed the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that Kenya has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens are concerned. Instead of honouring this sacred obligation, Kenya has given the Mwananchi a bad cheque, a cheque which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we’ve come to cash this cheque, a cheque that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind Kenya of the fierce urgency of now. This is not the time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquillising drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of Democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of injustice, nepotism, ten percent, corruption, kickbacks and all other vices; to the sunlit paths of justice, fairness, transparency and accountability. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of tribal hatred and disunity to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the time to make justice a reality for all God’s children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering hot spell of our legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating turn of freedom and equality— two thousand and one is not an end but a beginning.
Those who hope that Kenyans needed to blow off steam and that this quest for proper governance is just a passing cloud and will afterwards get content, will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.
There will be neither rest nor tranquility in Kenya: no peace, love and unity until all brothers and sisters are granted their citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt and change will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice and fairness dawns.
But that is something I must say to people who stand on the warm threshold, which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrong deeds. Let us not seek to justify our thirst for freedom of drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy and desire for fairness which has engulfed our people out of oppression and intimidation must not lead us to distrust leaders, for some of our leaders as evidenced by their presence here today have come to realise that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.
They have come to realise that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking activists and advocates of fairness, transparency and accountability, “when will you be satisfied?”
We cannot be satisfied as long as our people are victims of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality and hired thugs. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies heavy with the fatigue of working in the farms harvesting coffee, tea, sugarcane or pyrethrum, cannot be fairly remunerated.
We cannot be satisfied as long as we continue to pay taxes for services not rendered and our streets and estates are unsafe. We cannot be satisfied as long as we continue to hear and read about the looting and high level corruption that continues to make our local and foreign debts to swell.
No, no we are not satisfied, and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not mindful that some of you have come here out great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from their poorly maintained prison cells. Some of you have come from areas where the quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and even some killed along tribal, religious lines and staggered by the winds of police brutality and hired thugs. You have been the veterans of creative suffering.
Continue to work with the faith that undeserved suffering is redemptive. Go back to Western, go back to the Coast, go back to Nyanza, go back to North Eastern, go back to the rural areas and slums in our towns knowing that somehow, this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the continent’s dreams and aspirations at the time of the struggle for independence. I have a dream that one day this country will rise and live up to the true meaning of freedom, liberty and equality.
I have a dream that one day on the fertile hills of Molo, Burnt Forest, Kapenguria, Mt Elgon, Olenguruone, the sons of former agitators and the sons of former victims of the politically agitated ethnic cleansing will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day every corner of the country now sweltering with the heat of injustice, insecurity and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their tribe or sex but by the continent of their character and abilities.
I have a dream that one day in Narok, Kapenguria, Kericho, with its vicious tribalist leaders, leaders who have their lips dripping with words of incitement and animosity, one day right there in Narok or even Kapenguria, little “foreigner” boys and girls will be able to join hands with little “native” boys and girls as brothers and sisters.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain and crooked places will be made straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This is hope. This is the faith I will go back with. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, pray together, struggle together, be imprisoned together, stand up for freedom together knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day, this will be the day when all God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning the beautiful, uplifting and insightful words contained in our anthem.
And if Kenya is to be a great nation, this must become true. So, let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of Iveti and Tugen. Let freedom ring from the eight hills of Ngong. Let freedom ring from the coastal strip. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Mount Kenya to the expansive shores of Lake Victoria. But not only that, let freedom ring from North Eastern. Let freedom ring from the border Mount Elgon. Let freedom ring every posh and slum areas of our towns and cities. Let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring— when we let it ring every village and every location, from every rural and urban area, we will be able to speed up that day when all God’s children, rich and poor, urban dwellers and rural dwellers, Christians and Muslims, will be able to join hands and sing in one voice, “Free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”