* New Book Project *   Naked and Active   * Photo Request *

Please note that this is slightly tongue-in-cheek - for those few among us who might otherwise take this a little too seriously ;-)

I am happy to join with you today in what may go down in history as the
greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of man.

Five score years ago, (and fifty years more), a great man, in whose symbolic
shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous
decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Nudists who had been
seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to
end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Nudist still is not free. One hundred years
later, the life of the Nudist is still sadly crippled by the manacles of
segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the
Nudist lives on a lonely island of shameful nudity in the midst of a vast ocean of
textile domination. One hundred years later, the Nudist is still languished in
the corners of modern society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And
so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to this nation's capital to cash a check. When the
architects of our state wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and
the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which
every man was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes,
nudist men as well as clothed men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that the world
has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of skin are
concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, this world has given the
Nudists a bad check, a check 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. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check 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 everybody of the fierce urgency
of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the
tranquilizing 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
segregation to the sunlit path of naked justice. Now is the time to lift our
nation from the quicksands of naked injustice to the solid rock of
brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's
children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This
sweltering summer of the Nudist's legitimate discontent will not pass until
there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Two thousand and seven
is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Nudist needed to
blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the world 
returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in
the world until the Nudist is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of
revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nations until the bright
day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my 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 wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to
satisfy our thirst for freedom by 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 protest 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 which has engulfed the Nudist community must not
lead us to a distrust of all clothed people, for many of our clothed brothers, as
evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny
is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize 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 the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be
satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Nudist is the victim of the
unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as
our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels
of the highways and the hotels of the cities. *We cannot be satisfied as long
as the Nudist's basic mobility is from a smaller club ghetto to a larger one. We can
never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and
robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Textiles Only."* We cannot be
satisfied as long as a Nudist in town cannot vote naked and a Nudist in the
country believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not
satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters,
and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and
tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of
you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you
battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police
brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work
with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to your homes,
go back to your towns, go back to your mountains, go back to your lakes, go back to
your clubs, go back to the spas and ghettos of our clothed cities, 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.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have
a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the modern 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 these wide lands of ours, the sons of former
Nudists and the sons of former Textiles will be able to sit down together at
the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the city of Freiburg, a city 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 two not-so-little children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the texture of their clothing but by the
content of their character. 

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in the courthouse, with its vicious textiles,
with its judge having his lips dripping with the words of "shame" and
"exhibitionism" -- one day right there in our own home town, little naked boys
and naked girls will be able to join hands with little clothed boys and clothed
girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and 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, and this is the faith that I go back home 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.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children
will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. 

Land where my fathers dressed, land of the Pilgrim's pride, 

From every mountainside, let freedom ring! 

And if we are to be a great nation, this must become true.

	And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of the New World.

	Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of the Old World.

	Let freedom ring from the heightening coastlines of Portugal. 

	Let freedom ring from the snow-capped alps of Switzerland.

	Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of Italy.

	But not only that:

	Let freedom ring from the Stone Mountains of Russia.

	Let freedom ring from the Country of Turkey.

	Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of France.

	From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom 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, Nudists and Textiles,
Blacks and Whites, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able
to join hands and sing in the words of the old Nudist spiritual:

		Free at last! Free at last!

		Thank God Almighty, we are naked at last!