○  we shall overcome  ○

we will guard against violence, knowing it strikes from our hands the very weapons which we seek: progress, obedience to law, and belief in american values.

in selma, as elsewhere, we seek and pray for peace. we seek order. we seek unity. but we will not accept the peace of stifled rights, or the order imposed by fear, or the unity that stifles protest. for peace cannot be purchased at the cost of liberty.

in selma tonight -- and we had a good day there -- as in every city, we are working for a just and peaceful settlement and we must all remember that after this speech i am making tonight, after the police and the fbi and the marshals have all gone, and after you have promptly passed this bill, the people of selma and the other cities of the nation must still live and work together. and when the attention of the nation has gone elsewhere, they must try to heal the wounds and to build a new community.

this cannot be easily done on a battleground of violence, as the history of the south itself shows. it is in recognition of this that men of both races have shown such an outstandingly impressive responsibility in recent days -- last tuesday, again today.

the bill that i am presenting to you will be known as a civil rights bill. but, in a larger sense, most of the program i am recommending is a civil rights program. its object is to open the city of hope to all people of all races.

because all americans just must have the right to vote. and we are going to give them that right. all americans must have the privileges of citizenship -- regardless of race. and they are going to have those privileges of citizenship -- regardless of race.

but i would like to caution you and remind you that to exercise these privileges takes much more than just legal right. it requires a trained mind and a healthy body. it requires a decent home, and th

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