0:00 You know, the heat down here in the holler today reminds me of something.0:05 That thick, heavy air you can almost chew on, where you know a storm's coming but you don't know when.0:14 Ey up, Earl.0:15 Got your sweet tea?0:16 I've just popped the kettle on for a brew.0:19 What's put you in such a thoughtful mood this afternoon?0:24 I was just thinking...0:26 did you know the most famous part of the most famous speech of the last hundred years...0:33 was never supposed to be in it?0:35 Go on.0:36 Now you've got my full attention.0:38 Don't leave me hanging, love.0:41 Well, last week we were talking about how a great speech can change a room.0:47 This one...0:48 this one changed a whole country.0:50 I'm talkin' about Washington D.C.0:53 August twenty-eighth, nineteen sixty-three.0:57 Ooh, Doctor King.0:58 At the big march.0:59 I've seen the pictures.1:01 All those people, stretching as far as you can see.1:05 A quarter-million people, friend.1:08 And it was hotter than a two-dollar pistol.1:11 The air was just buzzing.1:13 Not with anger, not really.1:16 It was...1:16 hope.1:17 But it was a nervous hope.1:19 Remember, this was right after Birmingham.1:22 The whole country had seen those pictures of police dogs and fire hoses turned on children.1:29 I remember.1:30 It was all over the news even here.1:33 Horrifying.1:34 It makes you wonder what it felt like to be there, with all that bubbling under the surface.1:41 It felt like standing on a single track with two trains coming at you.1:47 The whole march was a gamble.1:49 And Doctor King...1:51 whoo, boy.1:52 He was at the center of it all.1:54 He'd been up half the night before, scribbling, crossing things out.2:00 His own people were arguing with him.2:03 Some wanted fire and brimstone.2:05 Others wanted him to sound like a statesman, real calm and collected.2:11 The weight of all that on one man's shoulders.2:14 It's a wonder he could stand up at all.2:18 He got up there with a speech written on paper.2:21 A good one, too.2:23 He'd worked hard on it.2:25 And he started delivering it.2:27 You could feel the crowd listening, nodding along.2:31 It was fine.2:32 It was doing the job.2:34 But it wasn't...2:35 lifting.2:35 It wasn't what the day needed.2:38 So it was just another speech?2:40 It wasn't the one we all know?2:43 Not yet.2:43 Now you stay with me here.2:45 From where the speakers were standing, just off to the side, you could see the other folks on the platform.2:54 And one of 'em was the great gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson.2:59 A dear friend of his.3:01 And as he's talking, she senses it too.3:04 She knows he's got more in him.3:06 What did she do?3:08 She calls out.3:09 Not a shout, but a real clear call you could hear over the murmur.3:14 She says, "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin!3:18 Tell 'em about the dream!" No!3:20 Right there in the middle of it?3:23 Right there.3:23 And you could SEE him hear her.3:26 It was like a switch was thrown.3:29 He looked down at his prepared papers...3:32 and he just pushed them to the side.3:35 He looked up at that sea of faces, and he left the script behind.3:40 He just started preaching.3:42 So the whole "I have a dream" part...3:45 Was pure heart.3:46 Every word of it.3:48 It was a theme he'd used before in smaller churches, but never on a stage like this.3:54 He was just...3:55 letting it pour out.3:57 Swear on my tackle box, that is the honest truth.4:01 Oh, Earl.4:02 That gives me goosebumps all over.4:04 To think, if she hadn't said anything...4:08 We might never have gotten it.4:10 The sound from that crowd changed.4:13 It went from polite applause to this deep, rolling wave of sound.4:18 It wasn't just a speech anymore.4:21 It was like he'd opened a vein and was letting out the hope and the hurt of every single person there.4:29 It just goes to show you, doesn't it?4:32 Sometimes you can plan and you can practice, but the real magic happens when you listen to a friend's voice in the crowd telling you to just be yourself.4:44 Mm-hmm.4:45 That's it exactly.4:46 He had the prepared words for the politicians and the newspapers.4:51 But "the dream"...4:53 that was for everybody.4:55 It's still ringing down the hollers today, if you listen close enough.5:00 It is, love.5:01 It really is.5:02 Right then.5:03 That's a powerful story to sit with.5:06 Makes my cup of tea seem a bit small.5:09 Well.5:10 That is about the size of it.5:12 Night night, sleep tight, chuck.
