Dr. King was one of the greatest civil rights activists of our time, striving for equality and racial justice. On August 28, 2963, Dr. King delivered what is now one of the most famous speeches in American history, 'I Have a Dream'.

"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 American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a 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.

I have a dream that 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.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

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 the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. 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, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My

country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the

prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New

York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let

freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Dr. King believed in peaceful, non-violent protests, following in the footsteps of Mohandas Gandhi, an civil activist in India that believed in nonviolent resistance.

World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

Nobel Peace Prize

For his tireless efforts in working for equality and racial justice, Dr. King was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year to “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”

On December 10, 1964 at the age of 35, Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, making him the youngest person at that time to receive this very prestigious award. He was also awarded $54,123.00 but instead of keeping it, he gave it all to further the Civil Rights Movement.

Excerpts from his Nobel acceptance speech are below:

"It is impossible to begin this lecture without again expressing my deep appreciation to the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament for bestowing upon me and the civil rights movement in the United States such a great honor. Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meaning can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart. Such is the moment I am presently experiencing. I experience this high and joyous moment not for myself alone but for those devotees of nonviolence who have moved so courageously against the ramparts of racial injustice and who in the process have acquired a new estimate of their own human worth. Many of them are young and cultured. Others are middle aged and middle class. The majority are poor and untutored. But they are all united in the quiet conviction that it is better to suffer in dignity than to accept segregation in humiliation. These are the real heroes of the freedom struggle: they are the noble people for whom I accept the Nobel Peace Prize."

"This evening I would like to use this lofty and historic platform to discuss what appears to me to be the most pressing problem confronting mankind today. Modern man has brought this whole world to an awe-inspiring threshold of the future. He has reached new and astonishing peaks of scientific success. He has produced machines that think and instruments that peer into the unfathomable ranges of interstellar space. He has built gigantic bridges to span the seas and gargantuan buildings to kiss the skies. His airplanes and spaceships have dwarfed distance, placed time in chains, and carved highways through the stratosphere. This is a dazzling picture of modern man’s scientific and technological progress."

"Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers."

"The first problem that I would like to mention is racial injustice. The struggle to eliminate the evil of racial injustice constitutes one of the major struggles of our time. The present upsurge of the Negro people of the United States grows out of a deep and passionate determination to make freedom and equality a reality “here” and “now”. In one sense the civil rights movement in the United States is a special American phenomenon which must be understood in the light of American history and dealt with in terms of the American situation. But on another and more important level, what is happening in the United States today is a relatively small part of a world development."

"Another indication that progress is being made was found in the recent presidential election in the United States. The American people revealed great maturity by overwhelmingly rejecting a presidential candidate who had become identified with extremism, racism, and retrogression. The voters of our nation rendered a telling blow to the radical right. They defeated those elements in our society which seek to pit white against Negro and lead the nation down a dangerous Fascist path."

"Let me not leave you with a false impression. The problem is far from solved. We still have a long, long way to go before the dream of freedom is a reality for the Negro in the United States. To put it figuratively in biblical language, we have left the dusty soils of Egypt and crossed a Red Sea whose waters had for years been hardened by a long and piercing winter of massive resistance. But before we reach the majestic shores of the Promised Land, there is a frustrating and bewildering wilderness ahead. We must still face prodigious hilltops of opposition and gigantic mountains of resistance. But with patient and firm determination we will press on until every valley of despair is exalted to new peaks of hope, until every mountain of pride and irrationality is made low by the leveling process of humility and compassion; until the rough places of injustice are transformed into a smooth plane of equality of opportunity; and until the crooked places of prejudice are transformed by the straightening process of bright-eyed wisdom."

"What the main sections of the civil rights movement in the United States are saying is that the demand for dignity, equality, jobs, and citizenship will not be abandoned or diluted or postponed. If that means resistance and conflict we shall not flinch. We shall not be cowed. We are no longer afraid."

"All that I have said boils down to the point of affirming that mankind’s survival is dependent upon man’s ability to solve the problems of racial injustice, poverty, and war; the solution of these problems is in turn dependent upon man squaring his moral progress with his scientific progress, and learning the practical art of living in harmony. Some years ago a famous novelist died. Among his papers was found a list of suggested story plots for future stories, the most prominently underscored being this one: “A widely separated family inherits a house in which they have to live together.” This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a big house, a great “world house” in which we have to live together – black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live with each other."

* Dr. King delivered this lecture in the Auditorium of the University of Oslo. This text is taken from Les Prix Nobel en 1964. The text in the New York Times is excerpted. His speech of acceptance delivered the day before in the same place is reported fully both in Les Prix Nobel en 1964 and the New York Times.

Martin Luther King Jr. – Nobel Lecture. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/lecture/>

The future of his civil rights legacy

Dr. King was assassinated the evening of April 4, 1968 but his dream of equality and racial justice did not die with him. It is kept alive by those that have stepped up to continue to the nonviolent and peaceful pursuit of the end of racial inequality and injustice in America.

Wednesday January 6: Smart Wednesday Early Release at 2:00 pm

Wednesday January 13: Smart Wednesday Early Release at 2:00 pm

Monday January 18: No school - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Friday January 29: No school for students - Teacher In-Service

1. Wash your hands when they are dirty and before eating.
2. Do not cough into your hands.
3. Do not sneeze into your hands.
4. Above all, do not put your fingers in your eyes, nose or mouth.

Here is an overview of the citizen complaint process described fully in Chapter 392-168 WAC, Special Service Programs—Citizen Complaint Procedure for Certain Categorical Federal Programs.

• Find this WAC online: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=392-168.

A citizen complaint is a written statement that alleges a violation of a federal rule, law or regulation or state regulation that applies to a federal program.

• Anyone can file a citizen complaint.
• There is no special form.
• There is no need to know the law that governs a federal program to file a complaint.

STEP 1 Use Your Local Process First

If you have followed the citizen complaint process of your school district, ESD or school service provider (subgrantee) and are unable to reach a satisfactory solution, use this citizen complaint process through OSPI.

STEP 2 File a Citizen Complaint Through OSPI

A citizen complaint must be in writing, signed by the person filing the complaint, and include:

• Contact Information of the Person Filing the Complaint. Your name, address, telephone number and email, if you have one.
• Optional: If someone is helping you to file this citizen complaint, include 1) their contact information, and 2) your relationship to them — for example, family member, a relative, friend or advocate.

• Information About the School District, ESD or School Service Provider You Believe Committed This Violation. Name and address of the school district, ESD or school service provider (subgrantee) you think violated a federal rule, law or regulation or a state regulation that applies to a federal program.

• The Facts — What, Who & When. Include a description of the facts and dates, in general, of when you think the alleged violation happened.

1. What specific requirement has been violated?
2. When did this violation occur?
3. Who you believe is responsible: names of all the people, and the program or organization involved.

• Optional: Did you file a written citizen complaint first with the school district, ESD or school service provider? Although not required by Chapter 392-168 WAC, it is helpful if we can review a copy of your citizen complaint and the results, if any.

• The Resolution You Expect. A proposed solution, if you think you know or have ideas about how the issue can be resolved.

STEP 3 Mail or Fax Your Written Citizen Complaint to OSPI

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

Attn: Citizen Complaint-Title I, Part A

P.O. Box 47200

Olympia, WA 98504

Fax: (360) 586-3305

STEP 4 OSPI Staff Process Your Complaint

Once federal program staff at OSPI receive your written complaint, here is what follows:

1. OSPI sends a copy of your complaint to the school district, ESD or school service provider (subgrantee).
2. The school district, ESD or school service provider begins a formal investigation led by a designated employee.
3. The designated employee provides the written response of the investigation to OSPI — within 20 calendar days.
4. OSPI staff will send you a copy of the results of the investigation conducted by the

school district, ESD or school provider (subgrantee).

Their response must clearly state one of two results:

• Denial of the allegations in your complaint and the reason for denial.
• Proposal of reasonable actions that will correct the violation.

STEP 5 Final Decision by OSPI

OSPI will send you the final decision in writing within 60 calendar days of the date federal program staff at OSPI received your written complaint — unless exceptional circumstances demand that this investigation take more time.

Here are the steps OSPI staff will follow to reach a final decision:

1. Review all the information gathered related to your complaint. The review could include the results of an independent, on-site investigation.
2. Decide independently whether or not the district, ESD or school service provider (subgrantee) violated a federal rule, law or regulation or a state regulation that applies to a federal program.
3. Provide you with the final decision: Findings of fact, conclusions, and reasonable measures necessary to correct any violation.
4. The district, ESD or school service provider (subgrantee) must take the corrective actions OSPI prescribes within 30 calendar days of the final decision.
5. A citizen complaint is considered resolved when OSPI has issued a final written decision and corrective measures, if necessary, are complete.

Extend or Waive Timelines

If you as the complainant, and the school district, ESD or school service provider (subgrantee) named in your citizen complaint agree to extend the timelines, this agreement must be in writing and sent to OSPI within 10 calendar days of the date the school district, ESD or school service provider (subgrantee) received notification from OSPI.

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

Attn: Citizen Complaint—Title I, Part A

P.O. Box 47200

Olympia, WA 98504

https://campussuite-storage.s3.amazonaws.com/prod/1558530/67007fc8-c8ad-11e7-ae75-0a592925caca/1830521/376459f6-bde4-11e8-b1bc-0ae3943a356a/file/Title1ComplaintProcess.pdf