WeeklySA_AdminBEACON: This year’s theme was “not a commemoration, a continuation”…
By Donnell Suggs
WASHINGTON, DC – The 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place two days before the actual anniversary which was August 28 1963.
This year’s march was always going to be a bit different anyway with all of the social media, print, digital and television media on hand, and diversity of speakers set to be a part of the annual affair. In 1963 there was only one female speaker, this year the female speakers outnumbered their male counterparts.
From Congresswoman Nikema Williams to Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson to singer/actress Melba Moore, who used her time in front of thousands gathered on the National Mall to sing a melody of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” the female voice of the march was heard loud and clear.
The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) President Shavon Arline-Bradley talked about being able to speak for the Black women that did not get the opportunity to do so at the first march. “60 years later we now have women involved,” said Arline-Bradley, who added that the issues Black people were fighting for 60 years ago are still up for debate.
Lajuane Pleasant (62) came from Phoenix, Arizona to “see and feel the vibe,” she said. Dressed in a black National Action Network t-shirt, white shorts and sunglasses, Pleasant added, “I want to feel the energy and experience the love.”
Wanda Farmer, in town for the march from nearby Baltimore, Maryland, waved a pair of signs that read, “Hatred Must Die, Kill It Now” and “Last Drop. Stop. Stop.” The latter sign was about gun violence. Farmer said she didn’t think she had enough hands to hold the number of signs she really wanted to bring with her to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. She also added that she came to the March on Washington to “obliterate hatred.
Attorney J Wyndal Gordon, the vice president of the National Bar Association brought his eight-year-old son Jansen to the march. Having woke up at 4am for the 40-plus mile (approximately 64km) drive south on Interstate 95, Jansen was still sleepy around 8 am when the invited speakers started making their way to the podium. Asked why he brought Jansen to the march Gordon said, “we’re here because it represents what took place in 1963 and to re-energize our base because not much has changed since then.”
Another father brought his daughter and granddaughter with him to commemorate the event. William “Bill” High (87) came from Las Vegas and met his adult daughter, Nora Wright, and granddaughter, Chantel Wright, in Washington earlier that day. High, then only in his second year as a member of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), was part of a security detail stationed on the steps of the LIncoln Memorial. “I was a young man back then,” said High with a laugh. “There were a lot more people here than there are today. This march should motivate us.” The author of a book on his career with the FDNY, “My Real Black Fire,” High remembers the immediate aftermath following Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s speech. “It was a beam to where we needed to go,” he said.
This year’s theme is “Not a commemoration, a continuation” and many of the people (there were nearly 40 speakers beginning at 8am. and ending past 3pm) that spoke; made sure to mention the bravery and sacrifices of the people that came before them 60 years ago, but also the fact that many of the hard-won freedoms that were earned after the first March on Washington are under fire today.
“It’s time that we galvanise ourselves to fight some of the isms that we are dealing with today,” said Gordon.
Nearly 40 speakers took the stage Saturday and under a hot sun, thousands of people listened to religious leaders from various faiths, CEOs from various organizations, including the Global Black Economic Forum, National Nurses United, the country’s largest organisation of registered nurses, the A Philip Randolph Institute, Sisters Song and EveryTown for Gun Safety.
Former Ambassador to the United Nations and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and Rev Jamal Bryant, the pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, was there to represent Atlanta, along with Congresswoman Williams. The former had been at that very spot in 1963. A much younger man then, but equally as powerful and influential of a presence.
“It’s been a long, but wonderful struggle and I’m here to tell you I don’t feel in any way tired,” said Young (91).
Notable and questionable celebrity speakers of the day also included entertainer Nick Cannon and actor/comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
Public speaker and noted academic Michael Eric Dyson also made an appearance, bringing the crowd to its feet when he brought a white folding chair on stage. “Bring your chair, bring your insight, bring your hope, bring God with you,” Dyson said at the end of his three-minute speech on fighting for rights.
The event was hosted by the National Action Network and Drum Major Institute. Both Rev Al Sharpton and members of Dr Martin Luther King’s family addressed the crowd hours after the event started.
The march started shortly after Sharpton finished speaking and people wearing t-shirts that read “Trust Black Woman”, “We March for Peace”, “Black Lives Matter” and waving flags that said Roe, Roe, Roe Your Vote” and “Voter Supremacy Makes Democracy Fake” marched through the National Mall down Independence Avenue to West Potomac Park. There were men, women, and children marching.
They were Black, white, Latinx, Asian, LGBTQIA+, all marching to continue the mission that started at the same place 60 years ago.
Annie Pearl Avery, a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1963, has found members of the first March on Washington. She was there with a group of student members and while looking over the crowd Saturday, she said, “This brings back memories.”
Having been arrested during the Civil Rights era, she recalled how it felt to see the train stop in Danville, Virginia to pick up more people on the way to Washington in 1963. “It was amazing when the train stopped in Danville because it reminded me of that time we spent 90 days in jail there,” she said, a smile slowly creasing across her face.
Having listened to dozens of speakers from a seat in the shade, she added, “We don’t have our problems solved yet, but methods and strategies change from time to time.”
This time she didn’t smile however. The March on Washington continues. – Atlanta Voice
Comment
PUBLIC PROTECTOR MUST ACT WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOUR
The office of the Public Protector is expected to be independent and respected by all and sundry in the execution of its duties with its main objective being to defend democracy instead of being in the firing line by those who differ with their judgments.
After spending weeks conducting interviews for the position of the new Public Protector, the Ad Hoc Committee to Nominate a Person for Appointment as Public Protector, this week recommended Deputy Public Protector, Kholeka Gcaleka as the next head of the chapter 9 institution after she came out tops during the interviews.
The ANC and IFP endorsed the recommendation which will be referred to the National Assembly where sixty percent is needed to confirm her appointment. Thereafter, the matter will be sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa for determination. Opposition parties, the DA, EFF and the Freedom Front Plus, rejected the recommendation.
They had a democratic right to do so. What is of concern however is their main reason for not supporting the decision saying there was a cloud hanging over her head because she recently cleared Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing in the Phala Phala saga. Her ruling is apparently been taken on review.
Without taking any sides in the matter, Gcaleka cannot be judged on a case that is still to be presented and argued before a court of law. Besides, she cannot be judged on a single case of clearing the President. She cannot be denied a job simply because of opposition parties who had already found the President guilty.
The Public Protector, like Judges and Magistrates, make rulings that will always make certain people uncomfortable and even angry. But South Africa, which is a democratic country, has various processes in place to challenge such decisions by turning to the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court for relief. The Public Protector’s decisions can also be taken on review.
The DA, EFF and Freedom Front Plus have the right to legally challenge Gcaleka’s decision which exonerated the President from any wrongdoing to clear what they claim is a cloud hanging over her head.
The three opposition parties must also be reminded that Judges and Magistrates whose rulings are set aside on appeal, are seldom recalled because to err is human unless this kind of trend recurs unabated.
Political parties must refrain from personal attacks on the Public Protector simply because of having made certain judgments they disapprove. Instead, all efforts must be made to respect, support and allow that office to execute its duties without fear or favour.
Published on the 114th Edition
