About 10 days ago, I received a phone call to go to a meeting with the religious community here in the DMV to meet with National Action Network, Rev. Al Sharpton and some of his staff to ask us to help build the crowd. I was invited because I write The Religion Corner column, and my radio show is on the oldest gospel station in the nation, Spirit 1340 (WYCB) on Radio One. Because the meeting was about the 60th March on Washington, coming up in about a month, I agreed right away. Rev. Sharpton did come, and I’m happy that I was in the number.
The National Action Network staff began by talking about how we must change the national narrative, led by Rev. Marquez Ball and Ebonie C. Riley. They shared goals with all of the local leaders from throughout the D.C., Maryland and Virginia (DMV) area until Rev. Sharpton arrived. Each of us agreed to become ambassadors and to do all we can to help people from the DMV to come out to participate in this year’s March on Washington. Sharpton concluded by saying, “The DMV needs to turn out, our bodies will make a statement. … Be a thermostat leader, and change temperatures. If we stand up, God will hold us up!”
This year’s march on Saturday, Aug. 26 will feature 60 national organizations across racial, cultural and generational lines as partners for the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington. This year, with all the political ramifications throughout America, this will not be a demonstration nor commemoration, but rather a continuation of the “dream” Dr. King outlined at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.
Now, with democracy under threat and violent hate crimes on the rise, it is essential to galvanize around that dream and push back against the concerted efforts to peel away hard-won civil rights. Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and Andrea Waters King have brought together people of all walks of life from across the nation. We invite you, especially those of us here in the DMV.
Organizers are expecting more than one thousand buses and are planning for up to as many as 500,000 people to gather at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on Saturday, August 26, 2023. Local churches through the DMV have been asked to help build the crowd. In a meeting with religious leaders, I heard Rev. Al Sharpton say, “This march is more important than the first march held 60 years ago.”
The pre-program for the event will begin at 8 a.m. EST, with the main program beginning at 11 a.m. Following the program, a march will begin through the streets of the nation’s capital. Additional details are coming over the next 10 days, as organizers continue to confirm buses and participants.
Don’t stay home in bed, watching television. Get up out of bed and get something done, and at the same time, you will be counted in the number.
Lyndia Grant is a speaker/writer living in the D.C. area. Her radio show, “Think on These Things,” airs Fridays at 6 p.m. on 1340 AM (WYCB), a Radio One station. To reach Grant, visit her website, www.lyndiagrant.com, email lyndiagrantshowdc@gmail.com or call 240-602-6295. Follow her on Twitter @LyndiaGrant and on Facebook.
