"We must free ourselves of the chains of political and economic slavery,” said Lewis, calling for tireless, peaceful demonstrations and "one man, one vote." “We have been waiting for hundreds of years.
Though women played a key role in the organizing, they were mostly excluded from the program, an act of sexism today's activists call "perhaps the only flaw in the march." John Lewis, then the 23-year-old chair of SNCC and one of the first 13 Freedom Riders, was widely deemed the most militant organizer - he'd planned to declare, “We will march through the South, through the heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did" - but toned it down after pressure from King. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin seeking an integrated front, they also brought in white labor organizer Walter Reuther, head of the United Auto Workers. The march was largely organized by activists A. The original March on Washington, during the steamy dog days of the capitol 100 years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in "the land of the free," came as America was witnessing the bloody lynchings, bombings, beatings and protests of a nascent civil rights movement. "But Black people are speaking louder.We’re tired, sick and tired, of asking for justice." Another cited a saying of "our ancestors struggling under slavery: 'Every shut eye ain't sleep.'" "We are still getting it in different ways," said one activist. Actor Sasha Baron decried rising anti-Semitism and growing fear of "the other" amplified by social media - "We've gone from the Klan rally to the chat room" gun-control advocate David Hogg urged Gen Z activists to seek political office: "We are done running away from this issue." Said MLK's daughter-in-law Andrea Waters King, "We are here to liberate (the) soul of democracy from those forces who would have us all go backwards and perish. Let Us Vote.Put the Gun Down.Black Lives Matter.Good Trouble.We March On." Speakers addressed the issues of King's era - poverty, voting rights, police violence - and today's attacks on black history, abortion access, LGBTQ rights, affirmative action. Its sea of banners, t-shirts, signs reflected the hope and rage behind that reality: "Stop Hate.I Am The Dream. Monday marked the 60th anniversary of the seminal march of over a quarter million people, this country's largest demonstration for civil rights Saturday's rally was nilled as a “continuation, not a commemoration" to stress the struggles are ongoing. A sheriff was more frank: "He wanted to kill niggers." Many say the racist violence was long "festering" given Ron DeSantis' toxic rhetoric and record - on guns, diversity, black history and rights - the shooter was "answering a call." In awful synchronicity, on the day thousands honored 1963's March on Washington where MLK searingly declared, "Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children," a Florida gunman killed three black people in what officials demurely called a "racially motivated" shooting.
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