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August 29, 2013

Thousands Mark 50th Anniversary of March on Washington 
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Thousands of people gathered on Washington's National Mall on Wednesday
to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington
for Jobs and Freedom and Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream"
speech. NAACP President Benjamin Jealous told the crowd that the quest
for Dr. King's call for economic justice continues.

Benjamin Jealous: "As we stand here 50 years after the March on
Washington, let us remember that Dr. King's last march was never
finished. The poor people's campaign was never finished. Some 50 years
after the March on Washington, while fewer people as a percentage are
poor, more as a number in our country are poor. And while the ladder of
opportunity extends to the heavens for our people today, more are
tethered at the bottom and falling off everyday."

Also addressing the 50th anniversary march, President Obama said a
proper commemoration should honor the civil rights movements' gains
while also acknowledging lingering injustice.

President Obama: "But we would dishonor those heroes as well to suggest
that the work of this nation is somehow complete. The arc of the moral
universe may bend towards but it doesn't bend on its own, to secure the
gains this country has made requires constant vigilance not complacency.
Whether by challenging those who erect new barriers to the vote or
ensuring that the scales of justice work equally for all in the criminal
justice system is not simply a pipeline from under funded schools to
over crowded jails. It requires vigilance."

 

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