A little inspiration: tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the March on

Washington; a day that IMHO, God truly did bless America. If you are too young to remember the civil rights struggle (I NEARLY am, but not quite), read and watch all you can about it. The entire struggle is an incredible inspiration.

I STILL have a dream . . .

On edit: sexing up the thread title for responses!

I watched that on TV and it was life changing.
If Dr. King were alive today, he would be cutting
a big swath over poverty and pilfering. He was
getting VERY militant about the important things
when he died: poverty, inequity as well as racism.

:kick:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34481-2003Aug22.html

Aug. 28, 1963: A Day Guided by Providence

By David S. Broder
Sunday, August 24, 2003; Page B07

This coming Thursday marks the 40th anniversary of one of the greatest days in American history: the day of the massive March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the largest civil rights demonstration of them all and the one that climaxed with Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, which ranks as one of the transcendent legacies of American rhetoric.

Even after four decades, I can vividly recall the emotions felt by everyone in that crowd of a quarter-million people filling the Mall and stretching back toward the Capitol, as King stood at the feet of Abraham Lincoln at the memorial to the Great Emancipator and filled the air with his vision of a nation where "my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

In a brilliant essay in the summer issue of The Public Interest, Adam Wolfson, that journal's editor, expounds on the meaning of that famous passage. Although King was speaking extemporaneously at that point, drawing on remembered portions of past addresses, his words were carefully chosen. In one earlier speech, he had said America should seek to "substitute an aristocracy of character for an aristocracy of color."

--snip--

"...There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose. If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life..." -- The Trumpet of Conscience, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, 1967.

poor people's march for economic human rights... August 1, 2003 left Mississippi...arrived on the National Mall for MLK celebration and to set up tent city 'bushville' August 23, 2003...
http://www.kwru.org/march/index.html

-snips-

Poor People's Economic Human Rights marchers were evicted from "Bushville" on August 24th, with 17 arrests. On August 28th, marchers will reconstruct the Tent City with or without a permit. Take action to support the Poor People's Movement...
Action Alert - Take Action Now!

Help support the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign by joining us on the Mall (just east of 14th Street between Madison and Jefferson Drive) and contacting the National Park Service and demanding the permit for Tent City on the National Mall is reinstated immediately. Marchers will begin re-constructing Bushville at 11:59 am on Thursday, August 28th. Please contact the Ron Blain of the National Park Service at: email - ron_blain (at) nps.gov, phone - 202.619.7225, fax - 202.401.2430.

Talking Points:
- The permit for the Tent City on the National Mall must be reinstated immediately

- The National Park Service is unjustly silencing the voice of the poor and denigrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by consistently denying the right to protest

more at
http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/80727/index.php

:kick:

The Juan Suarez pieces on NPR this week have been great. Everyone should take a moment today to remember Mr. King and all those who peacefully fought alongside him.

:kick: