Marching For King's Dream: 'The Task Is Not Done'

[jessie04]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by pinto (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: npr

Tens of thousands of people marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and down the National Mall on Saturday, commemorating the 50th anniversary of his famous speech and pledging that his dream include equality for gays, Latinos, the poor and the disabled.

The event was an homage to a generation of activists that endured fire hoses, police abuses and indignities to demand equality for African Americans. But there was a strong theme of unfinished business.

"This is not the time for nostalgic commemoration," said Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the slain civil rights leader. "Nor is this the time for self-congratulatory celebration. The task is not done. The journey is not complete. We can and we must do more."

Eric Holder, the nation's first black attorney general, said he would not be in office, nor would Barack Obama be president, without those who marched.

"They marched in spite of animosity, oppression and brutality because they believed in the greatness of what this nation could become and despaired of the founding promises not kept," Holder said.

Holder mentioned gays and Latinos, women and the disabled as those who had yet to fully realize Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. Others in the crowd advocated organized labor, voting rights, revamping immigration policies and access to local post offices.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the only surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington, railed against a recent Supreme Court decision that effectively erased a key anti-discrimination provision of the Voting Rights Act. Lewis was a leader of a 1965 march, where police beat and gassed marchers who demanded access to voting booths.

"I gave a little blood on that bridge in Selma, Ala., for the right to vote," he said. "I am not going to stand by and let the Supreme Court take the right to vote away from us. You cannot stand by. You cannot sit down. You've got to stand up. Speak up, speak out and get in the way."


Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=215053002

[jessie04]

1. John Lewis is an American treasure. nt

[lamp_shade]

8. He certainly is. His speech was powerful and moving and brought me to tears. n/t

[mountain grammy]

2. Proud to be the first K & R

[valerief]

3. Why does this web site say the march is on the 28th?

http://50thanniversarymarchonwashington.com/

A faux web site? Another march?

[loveandlight]

7. yes, it is another march

The march on the 28th is organized as the actual day of commemoration march. President Obama will be speaking. The march today was a commemoration march organized in the wake of the Travon Martin decision and against the stand your ground laws and also because of the Supreme Court decision against civil rights law. Bummer that it all couldn't have been done together.

[freshwest]

4. K&R

[LongTomH]

5. K&R

[heaven05]

6. all that

these people, SCOTUS and state legislatures, have shown me is how long some hateful, racist and stupidly evil people would wait to screw the minorities and poor out of their right to vote, again. Have to fight for the right to vote again after 50 fucking years. Damn, amerikkka is a shameful country with racist reactionaries just chomping at the bit to put certain people back in the cotton fields when they assume the reins of power and have no doubt they are on the way. Oh wait that cotton is in china now, india also. Cornfields?

[pinto]

9. Hi jessie04,

Historic event. Glad to see so much coverage. There's an earlier LBN thread. This would make a great addition.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014574858

Locking this as a duplicate.

Thanks for your understanding.