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As Martin Luther King Jr. climbed the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1963 his objective was not to break with American history but rather to fulfil its true purpose.

On the centennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which legally “freed” 3.5 million enslaved African Americans, he sought to realize Lincoln’s vocation.

In addition, he wanted to actualize the US Constitution and its Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed “that all men are created equal.”

Addressing more than 250,000 civil rights activists between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, King gave a speech that touches deep inside the hearts of all humanity, inspiring us all to freedom, to mutual respect and understanding.

The case he makes is so evident and indisputable, yet discrimination against African Americans continues to this day. And they are not the only ones who suffer.

Harrowing injustices persist around the world, as people, populations, entire races, or ethnicities are designated by others as less deserving of the rights and freedoms we should all enjoy.

Most visibly today, the people of Gaza, who have already suffered injustices and deprivation for decades, are being slaughtered in front of our eyes, their homes and livelihoods razed to the ground.

The carnage and cruelty have been so overwhelming that we have almost lost hope, shamefacedly turning away and switching off our televisions simply to dull the pain.

But King reminds us that even in the darkest and most desolate valleys of injustice, hope and humanity will persist.

I have a dream that one day Tovah and Omar can join hands and walk in peace, healing the wounds of all their people and banishing hatred and discrimination from our region and the planet.

I have a dream that one day the whole world will join hands, circling and embracing the Earth and each other.

I have a dream that one day we can finally say enough is enough and truly mean it. After so much wickedness, so much death and destruction, we must all let go of our anger and hatred to build a world on the pillars of love, tolerance, coexistence and understanding.

I have a dream that one day humanity will unite for peace, for respect and for reconciliation. The intelligence we call artificial must become real, and it must guide us to a new dawn of love.

I have a dream that one day we will all understand that bombs and weapons of mass destruction are powerless and must be relegated to the dustbin of history.

We have no alternative except to live together in mutual understanding, for today our lives depend above all on preserving the planet that sustains us. Without it none of us can exist.

Now is the time to make justice and respect a reality for all God’s children. Now is the time for the tears of despair to become the shining droplets of peace and love falling from the sky to spread light across the world.

Let us finally dream with our eyes open and make our dreams a reality.

In the words of Tennessee Williams voiced by a character in the “The Night of the Iguana”: “Sometime while night obscures the tree/The zenith of its life will be/Gone past forever, and from thence/A second history will commence.”

• Hassan bin Youssef Yassin worked closely with ����ֱ��’s petroleum ministers Abdullah Tariki and Ahmed Zaki Yamani from 1959-1967. He led the Saudi Information Office in Washington from 1972-1981 and served with the Arab League’s observer delegation to the UN from 1981-1983.

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