Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Thousands of people are expected to gather Saturday to mark the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom when some 250,000 people heard the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his famous “I Have a Dream” speech calling for equal rights for Black Americans and an end to racism.
Please click on this link to watch the magnificent speech for yourself. I’ve seen it many times, and it still brings tears to my eyes, especially when I reflect on the terrible loss the world suffered when Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 at the age of just 39.
The anniversary gathering has been endorsed by over 100 organizations representing a wide range of Americans from every race. It will take place at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. — the same spot where Dr. King spoke on Aug. 28, 1963. A march to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial will follow.
Leaders of the event include the Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, his wife, Arndrea Waters King, AFSCME President Lee Saunders and many others.
Importantly, Saturday will be more than a commemoration of the 1963 march. It will be a call to action to make Dr. King’s dream a reality. It will go beyond protesting discrimination against Black people to protest discrimination against other people of color, women, LGBTQ Americans, immigrants and other marginalized groups.
My immediate family did not make the long travel to Washington, D.C., and while only 3 years old, I don’t recall the day, but I’m told I watched news coverage with my grandmother at our home outside of New Orleans.
Just 20 years later,…
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