"Fifty years have passed since the world witnessed 300,000 citizens assemble in Washington, D.C. on August 28th, 1963 to demand “jobs and freedom” for people who lived on the margins of American life. During the march, the leadership of the nation was challenged to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Some changes were made and both pieces of legislation were passed with the assistance of President Lyndon B. Johnson and U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough, two elected officials from Texas who empathized with those who gathered on a hot and humid August day.
On August 24th, there will be another March on Washington. It will take place because the struggle for racial equality is not yet complete. There are forces in this country that are forcefully pushing back the advances that have been made and they must be confronted.
One has only to witness the recent decision by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court that removed the teeth from the Voting Rights Act to realize that not everyone in this country believes in inclusiveness.
The fact is that minorities are under attack in America. There are powerful interests who want the nation to return to the post Civil War period known as Reconstruction. They have enacted laws designed to prevent people from voting, they oppose Obama care and they support so-called “stand your ground laws” which have resulted in the killing of innocent people.
Even our president in the White House is not immune from the rancid abuse. I was present in the House Chamber while President Obama delivered a State of the Union address and a House Member disrupted the proceeding, calling the nation’s chief executive a “liar. It was shocking, it was disrespectful and it stemmed from prejudice.
It is easy for superficial observers to suggest that the struggle for racial equality is no longer necessary. While lawfully sanctioned segregation is over and “separate but equal” is invalid, discrimination and inequality persist in our work places, our corporate boardrooms, our schools, and our governments.
There is an inscription of Dr. King’s remarks made during the 1963 march at the Rosa Parks Plaza in the West End of Dallas that says we will not be satisfied “until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
We should not be satisfied! That is why I will be in Washington on August 24th with hundreds of thousands of people who realize that America is still not the country that the framers of its Constitution promised.
Together we can make America live up to its promises that all people are created equal. That is why we shall march again." - Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson
