“Have we reached the mountain top? “Not nearly,” said Alphonso David, President and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands gathered on the National Mall Saturday for the 60th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr March on WashingtonHe said a country still beset by racial inequality has yet to fulfill its dream.
“We have made progress over the past 60 years since Dr. King led the march on Washington,” said Alphonso David, President and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum. “Have we reached the mountain top? By far not.”
The event is convened by the Kings’ Drum Major Institute and the Rev. Al Sharpton National Action Network. A band of Black civil rights activists and a multi-ethnic, inter-faith coalition of allies will rally participants at the same site where up to 250,000 people gathered in 1963 for a demonstration that has survived to this day as one of the largest and most momentous demonstrations for racial justice and equality in history of the USA applies.
The event on Saturday was inevitably marked by contrasts to the first, historical demonstration. Speakers and banners spoke about the importance of LGBTQ and the rights of Asian Americans. Many who spoke to the crowd were women, after only one was given the microphone in 1963.
Pamela Mays McDonald of Philadelphia took part in the first march as a child. “At the original march, I was 8 years old and only one woman was allowed to speak — she was from Arkansas, where I’m from — now look at how many women are on the podium today,” she said.
For some, the contrasts were bittersweet. “I often look back and look at the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument and see a quarter of a million people 60 years ago and a fraction now,” said Marsha Dean Phelts of Amelia Island, Florida. “It was hotter back then. But the things we asked for and needed, we still need today.”
As the speakers delivered their messages, they were overshadowed by the sound of passenger planes taking off from Ronald Reagan National Airport. Rugby matches took place along the Mall just off the Lincoln, while joggers and cyclists pursued their exercises.
On Friday, Martin Luther King III, the late civil rights leader’s eldest son, and his sister Bernice King visited their father’s memorial in Washington.
“I see a man who still has authority and says, ‘We’ve got to get this fixed,'” Bernice said as she looked up at the granite statue.
Keynote speakers will include Ambassador Andrew Young, King’s close adviser who helped organize the original march and later served as Congressman, UN Ambassador and Mayor of Atlanta. Comments are also expected from leaders from the NAACP and the National Urban League.
Several leaders of groups organizing the march met with the attorney general on Friday Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division to discuss a range of issues including voting rights, policing and redlining.
The Saturday of the gathering was a precursor to the actual anniversary of August 28, 1963, the March on Washington. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will do it Celebrate the March anniversary on Monday through a meeting with organizers of the 1963 convention. All of King’s children were invited to a meeting with Biden, White House officials said.
For Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, the continuation of the march at the anniversaries in Washington fulfills a promise he made to the late King family matriarch, Coretta Scott King. 23 years ago, she introduced Sharpton and Martin Luther King III at a 37th anniversary march and urged them to carry on the legacy.
“I never thought that 23 years later Martin and I would march with Arndrea and we would have less (civil rights protection) than we had in 2000,” Sharpton said, referring to Martin Luther King III’s wife. Arndrea Waters King.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Washington pronouncements have resonated through decades of back and forth for advances in civil and human rights. But his speech was also followed by dark moments.
Two weeks later in 1963, four black girls were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, followed by the kidnapping and murder of three civil rights activists in Neshoba County, Mississippi the following year. The tragedies led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Montgomery to Selma, Alabama, voting rights marches, in which protesters were brutally beaten while crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge on what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” forced Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Unfortunately, we live in a time where there is a younger generation who believes that my father’s generation and those of us that came after didn’t do enough,” said Bernice King. “And I want them to understand that you benefit from it, and you do it in this way.”
She added: “We cannot give up because there is a moment when changes come. We need to celebrate the small victories. If you are not grateful, you will also undermine your progress.”
Saturday’s meeting gave Denorver Garrett, 31, hope.
He walked around the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday carrying a cross bearing the names of victims of police brutality and gun violence. “I’ve lost many friends to gun violence and God put it on my heart to carry that cross and turn my pain into something,” Garrett said. “However, this fight has become very tough over time and hearing the people united for the betterment of our people and communities — it gives me strength to continue and I’m glad I came.”
Denver Associated Press journalists Ayanna Alexander, Gary Fields, Jacquelyn Martin, and Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report.