In his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr., envisioned a culture that did not judge race. People would treasure freedom for all from “the heightening Alleghenies” Pennsylvania to “the snow-capped Rookies of Colorado.”

He delivered his words from the Lincoln Memorial – the exact location of racial and ethnic tensions that played out Friday as teenagers gathered after marching to oppose abortion, an American Indian celebrated indigenous people, and full-grown men spewed amplified racist and homophobic epithets in all directions.

The scene tells us how far we have to go. We can only imagine the sadness King would endure if alive to see the disgraceful behavior at the location of “I Have a Dream,” more than 55 years after he implored us to live in unity and peace.

Key components of King’s dream speech include:

? “My four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

? “Little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

? “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

? “When we allow freedom to ring – when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last, Free at last, Great God almighty, We are free at last.’ “

Free from this country’s irrational obsession with race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and an array of other immutable traits that have nothing to do with content of character.

King wanted equal opportunity – with rules that reward character. He could not possibly have wished for today’s divisive identity politics or a shifting of bigotry from one demographic to another.

If and when we achieve King’s vision, Americans will lose the phrases “white men,” “black men,” “gay candidate,” “people of color,” and other labels of superficial judgement. We should become free at last from bigotry, prejudice, intolerance and other forms of irrational ideology and behavior. As we remember King today, and prepare to celebrate Black History Month in February, we can honor the great civil rights leader by respecting the dignity of each individual without malicious regard for traits that make us each unique.

In the world King wanted, school children would respect the elder Native American and help him celebrate at the scene of “I Have a Dream.” No child would smirk in conveyance of disrespectful entitlement. Adults at the scene would mentor the kids with kindness, not words of hate. All involved would would make peace, not tension and rancor.

Let’s have a dream in which we honor King’s life and sacrifice by respecting his vision in our everyday lives. Let us finally bring this great man’s vision to life.