Leaders and Dallas community members sang “We Shall Overcome” in booming voices that echoed as one Wednesday inside a small downtown chapel.
More than 100 people attended the Thanks-Giving Square ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement’s March on Washington, which culminated in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson hosted the event that included a reading of the famous speech by leaders of various faiths. The bells on the square rang out after the ceremony and at similar events around the world.
Johnson invited religious leaders, race associations and unions, which reflected the themes of the original march, which demanded jobs and equality.
“It’s now a false sense that it’s a fight between blacks and whites,” Johnson said. “It’s not. It’s a fight between justice and injustice.”
Congresswoman Johnson said that the civil rights struggle continues and the intent of Wednesday’s ceremony was not to just relive the moment, but to re-energize people to fight for racial and class equality.
“Our battle is as strong today as it was 50 years ago,” she said. “It has as much to do with ideology as it does with the color of our skin. Until we all work together, we won’t achieve the dream.”
Source: Dallas Morning News Blog
