Editor’s Note: This post has been updated.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and his subsequent “I Have A Dream” speech.
In a time when voter rights are being suppressed and black teenagers are killed with no repercussions, a message of hope like this is refreshing. As Kojo Nantambu, president of the Charlotte chapter of the NAACP, said on Power 98’s Morning Maddhouse show earlier today, the more things change, the more they stay the same.”
(To watch an illegal, i.e., copyrighted, video of the speech, click here.)
To commemorate the occasion, Moral Monday organizers, including the NAACP, are hosting rallies across the state. The “Taking The Dream to Charlotte” rally happens today at 5:30 p.m. in Marshall Park, 800 E. 3rd St.
Side note: In the spirit of that famous speech, Comcast has launched an interactive website that features interviews with civil rights leaders, clergy members and other activists sharing their experience that day, the legacy of that march, and more. Check out this clip featuring U.S. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina.
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This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 3, 2013.
How much of a royalty did you have to pay the King Estate to include the clip?
Hey Garth, thanks for looking out! We pulled that illegal —yet awesome — video clip and linked instead.
Cheers!
I’m curious. Where were all the Republicans at this anniversary celebration?
OK Ms. Lawson that’s Step One. Now how about explaining to your readers WHY you had to pull the clip?
DLP,
Apparently only George W. Bush was invited, probably because organizers knew he was still recovering from surgery and couldn’t attend.
Among those NOT invited: the only black member of the Senate, Tim Scott of South Carolina.
The RNC organized their own event, at Capitol Hill. How much media coverage did that event get? Ummm…yeah.
Last night, Charlotte Democrat, Malcolm Graham said to loud applause concerning the new voting laws, “In my opinion, we as a state went 20 years backward…”
20 years ago in NC (1993) you had only one day to vote, the Tuesday in November, or you could go through the cumbersome process of filling out an absentee ballot. Now you have 10 days.
So obviously Mr. Graham’s comment was wrong, but that was beside the point. His point and those like him is to demagogue the issue with spurious assertions and division.
Nobody’s right to vote is being suppressed…nobody’s. What is being supressed is the opportunity for voting mischief. It goes on all the time in thousands of irregularities across the country.
So celebrating King’s speech while haranguing your opponents with dishonest facts is not an honorable way to remember his legacy.
DLP/Archiguy:
“Republican Party officials reached out to organizers of this week’s March on Washington commemoration with a series of suggestions for possible GOP speakers, but several of the people they recommended were never contacted with invitations to speak.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/gop-official-march-on-washington-organizers-ignored-suggestions/