Thousands of people gathered in Washington, DC, on Saturday to mark the 60th anniversary of the renowned civil rights march, which became a turning point for the movement.
People from all ages and backgrounds gathered on a hot August day at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall to hear speeches honouring civil rights achievements and discussing what needs to be done to achieve a more fair society.
“Martin Luther King spoke about a dream sixty years ago. We are the dreamers now, sixty years later. Reverend Al Sharpton, the final speaker, informed the audience that the issue is that we are dealing with con artists. “The dreamers are battling for the right to vote. State voting laws are being altered by the con artists. The dreamers are defending women’s freedom of choice. The con artists are debating whether to force you to stop after six or fifteen weeks.
The event was held to honour Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech, which he delivered during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. Similar to 60 years earlier, the speeches heavily featured union leaders and emphasised racial and economic equality.
This time, there were additional backgrounds and causes represented, but the major emphasis remained on civil rights in the South, especially in Florida.
Participants huddled under the cover of trees to escape the sweltering heat as the speakers spoke.
Glendia Cannon, the co-pastor of the Grace Lutheran Church in Jersey City, was one among them. She and a few other churchgoers were seated in silence on a lawn chair. She had been to the March on Washington ever since it was first held in the 1960s, when she was a young child, so she was accustomed to the spectacle.
She told The New Arab, “It was a lifelong experience. “Dr. King discussed the persecution that Black people were facing and the need for us to stand as one in the face of it. And how nothing would get done and there would be no equality if we didn’t march.
Cannon, who was compelled by law to sit at the back of the bus and who had grown up attending segregated schools in Atlanta, was now seated facing the Lincoln Memorial.
“When I was a young girl, I sat on the memorial. I discovered that if we band together, we can do anything. We will require one another, she added, adding that.
She prayed that the young people of today would seize hold of that ideal and never let it die.
Youths from all over the nation came together for the march on Saturday because they saw it as a crucial opportunity to advance civil rights.
Vice President of Youth Voice of Nevada Joseph Camel told TNA, “We’re basically trying to continue the dream.”
“Generation Z, in particular, will have a significant influence on the 2024 election because their rights are being violated. When they were young, my grandparents told me about this march. I showed up to help them and maintain their dream. Quite a bit of work still has to be done.
Following the speakers, the crowd made their way to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial while chanting “No justice, no peace” and other slogans from the ongoing civil rights and social justice movements.
