Obama: US struggling to realise Martin Luther King's dream

The US is struggling to fully realise the vision that civil rights leader Martin Luther King described in his ‘I have a dream’ speech 50 years ago, as the goal of economic security for all remains elusive, President Barack Obama said yesterday.

Obama, the first black US president, led civil rights pioneers in a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, where King’s speech roused the 250,000 people who rallied there for racial equality.

Obama spoke to thousands of marchers on Washington’s National Mall.