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Insufficient Funds

By Vanneca Phelps, 30th Space Wing Equal Opportunity / Published January 19, 2016

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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- "In a sense we have come to cash a check....It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note... Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds."

Although not recognizable, these lines are verses taken from Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. This speech was given on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Dr. King was 34 years old, born on Jan. 15, 1929. MLK would be 87 years old on Jan. 15. The Martin Luther King Holiday will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 this year.

Martin Luther King, best known as a civil rights leader, was also a Baptist minister and wrote many speeches and sermons prior to the well known 'I have a dream' speech. Rev. King  as well as his father, Martin Luther King Sr., and his younger brother, A.D. King were all Baptist ministers and pacifists - their  mission, peace through non-violence. The civil rights movement served as a catalyst to advance that peace. Before he became the icon in the African American civil rights movement he wrote many other sermons. The theme that rings throughout the speeches, as well as the sermons, is peace and goodwill.

Dr. King was awarded the Nobel peace prize, once the youngest to receive it, for his continued work for unity between nations and for the holding and promotion of peace. As Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King is commemorated on Monday, as a great civil rights leader and author of 'I have a dream'. Remember him also as a great orator who left a message of peace and this verse also taken from 'I have a dream', "With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation."

Dr. King, on your 87th birthday you would be happy to know the check returned for insufficient funds has been paid in full. Thank you for your payment.