The March on Washington was a massive protest march that occurred in August 1963, when some 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Also known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the event aimed to draw attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation. It was also the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s now-iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.
On Saturday, thousands joined organizers, including more than 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 was not a demonstration nor commemoration, but rather a continuation of the “dream” Dr. King outlined at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.
Why is it a continuation? To those of you who are too young to understand, It is because quite a few of the rights by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and many of our unions, obtained over the last 60 years have been taken back.
For the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, organizers had buses from across the nation, and though we only had a fraction of what was expected, speaker after speaker talked about abortion rights, with gun violence heading up the list.
Attorney Benjamin Crump, now looked upon as “the people’s lawyer,” was there, with at least 20 families whom he has represented that have lost a loved one to senseless gun violence by police, someone who was really hired to protect us. He had many of those shot and killed by police.
Gathering at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., unfortunately, does not include young people in numbers that are significant, based on what’s really going on. None of them have had to drink from “Blacks only” water fountains, and no matter how badly you needed to use a bathroom, you dared not enter a “whites only” bathroom — you would have to hold it or find another alternative.
The freedoms we have today, such as feeling free to go to the first bathroom you see inside an airport, to all go to the same public bathroom today, is giving false security — it gives younger people a feeling of being free in every sense of the word.
Though local churches through the DMV were asked to help build the crowd, the hope for a better tomorrow is not on the minds of the majority, and they just did not show up in numbers hoped for.
A couple of months ago, I was in a meeting with religious leaders preparing for this 60th-anniversary march, and I heard Rev. Al Sharpton say, “This march is more important than the first march held 60 years ago.”
I conclude with this: All goals were met, when speaker after speaker from across the civil rights arena spoke by giving their version of how we must continue to work together, in a nation that is seemingly going in the opposite direction.
The day after, early on Sunday morning, we hear of yet another shooting by a white male, who hunted down more people of color, African Americans, because he hated Black people. When will this ever end? There have been more than 400 shootings this year. One reporter said that we have had more shootings this year than we have had days. With more than four months still to go, our country is still the number one, worst country in the world, when it comes to shootings and killings.
“O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!”
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.
