A new march on Washington to confront some old problems

Idea exchange
August 2003

A new march on Washington to confront some old problems
The Fellowship of Reconciliation is calling for an anniversary march to mark the passing of 40 years since Dr. Martin Luther King's historic march on Washington in 1963. The group plans a remembrance demonstration on August 22 and 23 culminating in a mass rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

Below is the text of their "Call for the 40th Year March on Washington":

"1963 is not an end, but a beginning."—The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.

In August of 1963, hundreds of thousands gathered on the Mall in Washington, D.C. to have America make good on the check for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness she wrote to her citizens. Dr. King said that the check was "marked insufficient funds." Forty years later the check is still bouncing. On August 23, 2003, forty years after the Great March on Washington, we RETURN to cash the check, to REPAIR our wounds and to RENEW our struggle.

We RETURN to the spirit of agitation and activism that originally secured the check. Those who marched in 1963 and those who were not yet born, the sit-in generation and the hip-hop generation, RETURN to learn, teach, mobilize, and organize so that we can fight for our freedom TOGETHER. This check was not written voluntarily but earned through centuries of struggle, and it is only through our joint effort that this check can be cashed.

We march to REPAIR the internal wounds that have divided individuals and organizations in our struggle. We march to REPAIR the gender crisis in our community, the class divide in our nation and the disconnectedness in the global struggle of all people of conscience regardless of race, religion, creed or color. We march to REPAIR the external wounds of slavery, segregation, colonialism and the terrorism of COINTELPRO. These wounds are still fresh and their vestiges still vibrant.

We march to RENEW our struggle against past injustices represented in new forms. We have come from Plesy v. Ferguson to the University of Michigan. From Bloody Sunday to FLorida 2000. From COINTELPRO to the Patriot Acts. From Vietnam to Iraq. From Strom Thurmond to Trent Lott. After 40 years, poverty, homelessness, disease, unemployment, disenfranchisement, environmental racism, police violence, profiling, incarceration, political imprisonment and executions still disproportionately affect African Americans and all people of color. In spite of the material acquisitions of a few, disparities in access to education, income, wealth, and health care for the masses continue.

We march with our own dream-the dream of a fair criminal justice system, the dream of economic and environmental justice, the dream of gender equity and unity between diverse communities, the dream of full political participation and the dream of peace. We will not rest until those dreams become living realities, in our time, and for our generation.

Dr. King's linkage of poverty, militarism and racism resonates with astounding clarity and applicability today. We stand in solidarity with marginalized and disenfranchised people throughtout the world. We are clear that the trumpeted call to struggle for justice on these shores is echoed in oppressed communitites throughout this world. We march for human rights of all people, and an end to poverty, militarism and racism. We call fro global peace. As Malcolm X said, we must "think globally and act locally." We march for the implementation of the Program of Action from the 2001 World Conference Against Racism. We RENEW Dr. King's call for a Poor People's Campaign and an Economic Bill of Rights.

We invite all people of conscience to join us in that same spirit, to spread this call and meet us at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC on Friday, August 22 and Saturday, August 23, 2003 in the following activities:

Friday, August 22, 2003
7:30 pm Prayer Vigil at Lincoln Memorial
9:00 pm Spoken Word on Washington (Open Mic Poetry) at Lincoln Memorial

Saturday, August 2, 2003
11:00 am - 1:00 pm Session I of Teach-In
1:00 - 3:00 pm Session II of Teach-In
Teach-In Sessions will take place at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

3:30 - 5:30 pm Mass Rally at Lincoln Memorial

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign march will be converging with the Saturday Mass Rally.

For more information, please contact:
Sonia Ivette Dueño
Coordinator, Racial and Economic Justice Program
Fellowship of Reconciliation
100 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Suite 310
Washington, DC 20002
Tel. 202-488-5613 /Fax: 202-488-5639
rej@forusa.org

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