On MLK Day

Having reminded us of the segregation that still flourished in 1963, now turning to the subject of women's contributions, former Congressman John Lewis, one of the organizers of the historic 1963 march, quoted Kwame Nkruma: "Judge the political maturity of a place by the political maturity of its women."

The national president of NOW, Kim Gandy, next predicted, "We will win in 2004 and all following elections." She deplored the right-wing assault on "the rights we fought for and won: equal educational opportunity, leave to care for sick children, judgment according to ability, not anatomy, protection against hate crimes, and equal pay.

"I'm proud of being left, tired of being left out," she said. "When we get together, we'll turn into a two by four que sà , se puede."

The Reverend Al Sharpton next noted that the bounced check MLK alluded to has "bounced again and is now marked 'stop payment.'" He deplored the $5 billion a month this country spends on Iraq and Afghanistan, "with nothing left for health, education, and state budgets."

He further deplored the "dream busting" policies of the Bush administration: opposing affirmative action, recalling an election, putting "terminators" in office, hiding hatred behind the Ten Commandments. To begin the Exodus into the Promised Landand biblical imagery was apparent in many speeches, as were various biblical and other perspectives on the significance of the number fortywe must "address our burning Bush," said Sharpton. "It stands for Enron and big business, not for labor and children. We didn't come this far to turn around now!"

"Hope was born again in 1963," Rev. Jesse Jackson next informed the crowds. "We cast out fear, we became audacious, and all the world sang 'We Shall Overcome.' Lincoln's promise of emancipation has been broken. Congress broke the promises of the Thirteenth through Fifteenth Amendments.

"More black men are in jail than in college in every state," he continued. "They are racially number one in HIV infection, cancer, school expulsions, and jail. This country has betrayed its allies on its way into war, making them old and irrelevant.

"We must go South today, our zone of challenge," said Jackson. "with the highest concentration of poor people, waste dumps, opposition to labor and civil rights, and hostility to the poor.

"In 2000 we lost South Carolina by 40,000 votes, but 40,000 blacks were unregistered, and lost Georgia by 30,000 votes with 600,000 blacks unregistered. Hands that pick cotton cannot pick presidents. Every election lost is by the margin of unregistered voters."

Walter E. Faudroy, who helped plan the 1983 and 1993 memorial rallies, called the 2003 convocation the "most serious follow-up to the march since 1963. We can't afford a one-day demonstration but a need fifteen-month demonstration starting today and ending November 2, 2004." He recalled the gains produced by earlier activism: the repeal of segregation and the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1963. He suggested the goal of registering fifty million new voters for election 2004.

"We can do it if we put our minds and hearts to it. Let's give Martin Luther King Jr. a birthday present!" he concluded.

Dick Gregory delivered closing thoughts to end the four-hour rally of thousands that had by then dwindled to a handful, who were treated to a recording of King's immortal speeches as many of us proceeded to review the statue of Lincoln: what a heartening combination of precedents to empower us for the uphill months to come. I turned to a companion and said that the very fact such great heroes had existed was reassurance enough that we were capable of producing more; there was still room for optimism amid the present chaotic situation in Washington and the world.

Copyright  © Marta Steele 2003. All rights reserved.

"Happy" MLK Day! A certain reminder of how much we have left to accomplish to cure the world.

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