President Obama remarks at March on Washington August 28,
2013
Remarks by the President at the "Let Freedom Ring"
Ceremony
Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on
Washington
Lincoln Memorial
3:07 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: To the
King family, who have sacrificed and inspired so much; to President Clinton;
President Carter; Vice President Biden and Jill; fellow Americans.
Five decades ago today, Americans came to this honored place
to lay claim to a promise made at our founding:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
In 1963, almost 200 years after those words were set to
paper, a full century after a great war was fought and emancipation proclaimed,
that promise -- those truths -- remained unmet.
And so they came by the thousands from every corner of our country, men
and women, young and old, blacks who longed for freedom and whites who could no
longer accept freedom for themselves while witnessing the subjugation of
others.
Across the land, congregations sent them off with food and
with prayer. In the middle of the night,
entire blocks of Harlem came out to wish them well. With the few dollars they scrimped from their
labor, some bought tickets and boarded buses, even if they couldn’t always sit
where they wanted to sit. Those with
less money hitchhiked or walked. They
were seamstresses and steelworkers, students and teachers, maids and Pullman
porters. They shared simple meals and
bunked together on floors. And then, on
a hot summer day, they assembled here, in our nation’s capital, under the
shadow of the Great Emancipator -- to offer testimony of injustice, to petition
their government for redress, and to awaken America’s long-slumbering
conscience.
We rightly and best remember Dr. King’s soaring oratory that
day, how he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions; how he offered a
salvation path for oppressed and oppressors alike. His words belong to the ages, possessing a
power and prophecy unmatched in our time.
But we would do well to recall that day itself also belonged
to those ordinary people whose names never appeared in the history books, never
got on TV. Many had gone to segregated
schools and sat at segregated lunch counters.
They lived in towns where they couldn’t vote and cities where their
votes didn’t matter. They were couples
in love who couldn’t marry, soldiers who fought for freedom abroad that they
found denied to them at home. They had
seen loved ones beaten, and children fire-hosed, and they had every reason to
lash out in anger, or resign themselves to a bitter fate.
And yet they chose a different path. In the face of hatred, they prayed for their
tormentors. In the face of violence,
they stood up and sat in, with the moral force of nonviolence. Willingly, they went to jail to protest
unjust laws, their cells swelling with the sound of freedom songs. A lifetime of indignities had taught them
that no man can take away the dignity and grace that God grants us. They had learned through hard experience what
Frederick Douglass once taught -- that freedom is not given, it must be won,
through struggle and discipline, persistence and faith.
That was the spirit they brought here that day. That was the spirit young people like John
Lewis brought to that day. That was the
spirit that they carried with them, like a torch, back to their cities and
their neighborhoods. That steady flame
of conscience and courage that would sustain them through the campaigns to come
-- through boycotts and voter registration drives and smaller marches far from
the spotlight; through the loss of four little girls in Birmingham, and the
carnage of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the agony of Dallas and California and
Memphis. Through setbacks and heartbreaks
and gnawing doubt, that flame of justice flickered; it never died.
And because they kept marching, America changed. Because they marched, a Civil Rights law was
passed. Because they marched, a Voting
Rights law was signed. Because they
marched, doors of opportunity and education swung open so their daughters and
sons could finally imagine a life for themselves beyond washing somebody else’s
laundry or shining somebody else’s shoes. (Applause.) Because they marched, city councils changed
and state legislatures changed, and Congress changed, and, yes, eventually, the
White House changed. (Applause.)
Because they marched, America became more free and more fair
-- not just for African Americans, but for women and Latinos, Asians and Native
Americans; for Catholics, Jews, and Muslims; for gays, for Americans with a
disability. America changed for you and
for me. and the entire world drew
strength from that example, whether the young people who watched from the other
side of an Iron Curtain and would eventually tear down that wall, or the young
people inside South Africa who would eventually end the scourge of
apartheid. (Applause.)
Those are the victories they won, with iron wills and hope
in their hearts. That is the
transformation that they wrought, with each step of their well-worn shoes. That’s the debt that I and millions of
Americans owe those maids, those laborers, those porters, those secretaries;
folks who could have run a company maybe if they had ever had a chance; those
white students who put themselves in harm’s way, even though they didn't have;
those Japanese Americans who recalled their own internment; those Jewish
Americans who had survived the Holocaust; people who could have given up and
given in, but kept on keeping on, knowing that “weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning.” (Applause.)
On the battlefield of justice, men and women without rank or
wealth or title or fame would liberate us all in ways that our children now
take for granted, as people of all colors and creeds live together and learn
together and walk together, and fight alongside one another, and love one
another, and judge one another by the content of our character in this greatest
nation on Earth. (Applause.)
To dismiss the magnitude of this progress -- to suggest, as
some sometimes do, that little has changed -- that dishonors the courage and
the sacrifice of those who paid the price to march in those years. (Applause.)
Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, Martin
Luther King Jr. -- they did not die in vain.
(Applause.) Their victory was
great.
But we would dishonor those heroes as well to suggest that
the work of this nation is somehow complete.
The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn’t
bend on its own. To secure the gains
this country has made requires constant vigilance, not complacency. Whether by challenging those who erect new
barriers to the vote, or ensuring that the scales of justice work equally for
all, and the criminal justice system is not simply a pipeline from underfunded
schools to overcrowded jails, it requires vigilance. (Applause.)
And we'll suffer the occasional setback. But we will win these fights. This country has changed too much. (Applause.)
People of goodwill, regardless of party, are too plentiful for those
with ill will to change history’s currents.
(Applause.)
In some ways, though, the securing of civil rights, voting
rights, the eradication of legalized discrimination -- the very significance of
these victories may have obscured a second goal of the March. For the men and women who gathered 50 years
ago were not there in search of some abstract ideal. They were there seeking jobs as well as
justice -- (applause) -- not just the absence of oppression but the presence of
economic opportunity. (Applause.)
For what does it profit a man, Dr. King would ask, to sit at
an integrated lunch counter if he can’t afford the meal? This idea -- that one’s liberty is linked to
one’s livelihood; that the pursuit of happiness requires the dignity of work,
the skills to find work, decent pay, some measure of material security -- this
idea was not new. Lincoln himself
understood the Declaration of Independence in such terms -- as a promise that
in due time, “the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and
that all should have an equal chance.”
And Dr. King explained that the goals of African Americans
were identical to working people of all races:
“Decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age
security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow,
have education for their children, and respect in the community.”
What King was describing has been the dream of every
American. It's what's lured for
centuries new arrivals to our shores.
And it’s along this second dimension -- of economic opportunity, the
chance through honest toil to advance one’s station in life -- where the goals
of 50 years ago have fallen most short.
Yes, there have been examples of success within black
America that would have been unimaginable a half century ago. But as has already been noted, black
unemployment has remained almost twice as high as white unemployment, Latino
unemployment close behind. The gap in
wealth between races has not lessened, it's grown. And as President Clinton indicated, the
position of all working Americans, regardless of color, has eroded, making the
dream Dr. King described even more elusive.
For over a decade, working Americans of all races have seen
their wages and incomes stagnate, even as corporate profits soar, even as the
pay of a fortunate few explodes.
Inequality has steadily risen over the decades. Upward mobility has become harder. In too many communities across this country,
in cities and suburbs and rural hamlets, the shadow of poverty casts a pall
over our youth, their lives a fortress of substandard schools and diminished
prospects, inadequate health care and perennial violence.
And so as we mark this anniversary, we must remind ourselves
that the measure of progress for those who marched 50 years ago was not merely
how many blacks could join the ranks of millionaires. It was whether this country would admit all
people who are willing to work hard regardless of race into the ranks of a
middle-class life. (Applause.)
The test was not, and never has been, whether the doors of
opportunity are cracked a bit wider for a few.
It was whether our economic system provides a fair shot for the many --
for the black custodian and the white steelworker, the immigrant dishwasher and
the Native American veteran. To win that
battle, to answer that call -- this remains our great unfinished business.
We shouldn’t fool ourselves.
The task will not be easy. Since
1963, the economy has changed. The twin
forces of technology and global competition have subtracted those jobs that
once provided a foothold into the middle class -- reduced the bargaining power
of American workers. And our politics
has suffered. Entrenched interests,
those who benefit from an unjust status quo, resisted any government efforts to
give working families a fair deal -- marshaling an army of lobbyists and
opinion makers to argue that minimum wage increases or stronger labor laws or
taxes on the wealthy who could afford it just to fund crumbling schools, that
all these things violated sound economic principles. We'd be told that growing inequality was a
price for a growing economy, a measure of this free market; that greed was good
and compassion ineffective, and those without jobs or health care had only
themselves to blame.
And then, there were those elected officials who found it
useful to practice the old politics of division, doing their best to convince
middle-class Americans of a great untruth -- that government was somehow itself
to blame for their growing economic insecurity; that distant bureaucrats were
taking their hard-earned dollars to benefit the welfare cheat or the illegal
immigrant.
And then, if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that
during the course of 50 years, there were times when some of us claiming to
push for change lost our way. The
anguish of assassinations set off self-defeating riots. Legitimate grievances against police
brutality tipped into excuse-making for criminal behavior. Racial politics could cut both ways, as the
transformative message of unity and brotherhood was drowned out by the language
of recrimination. And what had once been
a call for equality of opportunity, the chance for all Americans to work hard
and get ahead was too often framed as a mere desire for government support --
as if we had no agency in our own liberation, as if poverty was an excuse for
not raising your child, and the bigotry of others was reason to give up on
yourself.
All of that history is how progress stalled. That's how hope was diverted. It's how our country remained divided. But the good news is, just as was true in
1963, we now have a choice. We can continue down our current path, in which the
gears of this great democracy grind to a halt and our children accept a life of
lower expectations; where politics is a zero-sum game where a few do very well
while struggling families of every race fight over a shrinking economic pie --
that’s one path. Or we can have the
courage to change.
The March on Washington teaches us that we are not trapped
by the mistakes of history; that we are masters of our fate. But it also teaches us that the promise of
this nation will only be kept when we work together. We’ll have to reignite the embers of empathy
and fellow feeling, the coalition of conscience that found expression in this
place 50 years ago.
And I believe that spirit is there, that truth force inside
each of us. I see it when a white mother
recognizes her own daughter in the face of a poor black child. I see it when the black youth thinks of his
own grandfather in the dignified steps of an elderly white man. It’s there when the native-born recognizing
that striving spirit of the new immigrant; when the interracial couple connects
the pain of a gay couple who are discriminated against and understands it as
their own.
That’s where courage comes from -- when we turn not from
each other, or on each other, but towards one another, and we find that we do
not walk alone. That’s where courage
comes from. (Applause.)
And with that courage, we can stand together for good jobs
and just wages. With that courage, we
can stand together for the right to health care in the richest nation on Earth
for every person. (Applause.) With that courage, we can stand together for
the right of every child, from the corners of Anacostia to the hills of Appalachia,
to get an education that stirs the mind and captures the spirit, and prepares
them for the world that awaits them.
(Applause.)
With that courage, we can feed the hungry, and house the
homeless, and transform bleak wastelands of poverty into fields of commerce and
promise.
America, I know the road will be long, but I know we can get
there. Yes, we will stumble, but I know
we’ll get back up. That’s how a movement
happens. That’s how history bends. That's how when somebody is faint of heart,
somebody else brings them along and says, come on, we’re marching. (Applause.)
There’s a reason why so many who marched that day, and in
the days to come, were young -- for the young are unconstrained by habits of
fear, unconstrained by the conventions of what is. They dared to dream differently, to imagine
something better. And I am convinced
that same imagination, the same hunger of purpose stirs in this generation.
We might not face the same dangers of 1963, but the fierce
urgency of now remains. We may never
duplicate the swelling crowds and dazzling procession of that day so long ago
-- no one can match King’s brilliance -- but the same flame that lit the heart
of all who are willing to take a first step for justice, I know that flame
remains. (Applause.)
That tireless teacher who gets to class early and stays late
and dips into her own pocket to buy supplies because she believes that every
child is her charge -- she’s marching.
(Applause.)
That successful businessman who doesn't have to but pays his
workers a fair wage and then offers a shot to a man, maybe an ex-con who is
down on his luck -- he’s marching.
(Applause.)
The mother who pours her love into her daughter so that she
grows up with the confidence to walk through the same door as anybody’s son --
she’s marching. (Applause.)
The father who realizes the most important job he’ll ever
have is raising his boy right, even if he didn't have a father -- especially if
he didn't have a father at home -- he’s marching. (Applause.)
The battle-scarred veterans who devote themselves not only
to helping their fellow warriors stand again, and walk again, and run again,
but to keep serving their country when they come home -- they are
marching. (Applause.)
Everyone who realizes what those glorious patriots knew on
that day -- that change does not come from Washington, but to Washington; that
change has always been built on our willingness, We The People, to take on the
mantle of citizenship -- you are marching.
(Applause.)
And that’s the lesson of our past. That's the promise of tomorrow -- that in the
face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it. That when millions of Americans of every race
and every region, every faith and every station, can join together in a spirit
of brotherhood, then those mountains will be made low, and those rough places will
be made plain, and those crooked places, they straighten out towards grace, and
we will vindicate the faith of those who sacrificed so much and live up to the
true meaning of our creed, as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all. (Applause.)
END
3:36 P.M. EDT
+++++++
Speeches and Remarks
-
August 28, 2013
August 27, 2013
August 27, 2013
August 26, 2013
August 24, 2013
August 23, 2013
August 23, 2013
August 22, 2013
August 22, 2013
August 20, 2013
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Baltimore Sun: We all still have a dream 50-years after Dr.
King's speech
We all
still have a dream 50-years after Dr. King's speech [Eagle Archives]
By
Kevin Dayhoff, 1:38 p.m. EDT, August 27, 2013
Members of the Carroll County chapter of the
NAACP joined tens of thousands Saturday at the National
Mall - at the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial - in Washington to
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the August 28, 1963 March on Washington.
It was at that time in the early 1960s that the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15,
1929-April 4, 1968) made "I have a dream" the clarion-call of the
civil rights movement at a political rally called the “March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom.”
History continues to reflect upon the importance of the
march on Washington in 1963. One thing remains certain, it was a pivotal moment
in American history that has contributed greatly to who we are as a nation
today.
#KED, 20130824 March on Washington, Diversity, Diversity
Civil Rights, Diversity Martin Luther King, Diversity NAACP Carroll Co Chap,
NAACP, NAACP Carroll Co, Scribd, Dayhoff Media Explore Carroll,
++++++++++++++++++
Martin Luther King Civil Rights Lincoln Memorial Washington
DC march NAACP Carroll County
+++++++++++++++++++++
19630829 WaPo front page
Post front page: March on Washington
The front page of The Washington Post with coverage of the
March on Washington, on Aug. 29, 1963
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/local/post-front-page-march-on-washington/381/#tl-4d0de25e
+++++++++++++++++++++
20130824 MLK tribute book
Aug. 24, 2013 March on Washington tribute to the legacy of
Dr. Martin Luther King
The Carroll County, MD Branch of the NAACP were represented
at the March on Washington on August 24, 2013
http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-carroll-county-md-branch-of-naacp.html
The Carroll County, MD Branch of the NAACP were represented
at the March on Washington on August 24, 2013 – John Lewis, Pam Zappardino,
Virginia Harrison, Jean Lewis, Anna-Maria Halstead, Charles Harrison, Cheron
Harris, Xiomara Pierre, Charles Collyer and Kevin Earl Dayhoff at March on
Washington - 50Th Anniversary.
It was a day of camaraderie – for folks from all over the
nation to come together and hear an amazing group of speakers that included
Rep. John Lewis, Julian Bond, Martin Luther King III, Eric Holder, Cory Booker,
Nancy Pelosi, Myrlie Evers Williams, Al Sharpton, Steny Hoyer, Ed Schultz,
Denise King, Joseph Lowery, CT Vivan, representatives of the Human Rights
Campaign, the National Council of LaRaza, the AFT, the NEA and many, many more.
For more articles, pictures and information on the August
24, 2013 March on Washington, click on:
http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/search/label/20130824%20March%20on%20Washington
or http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/search/label/Diversity%20NAACP%20Carroll%20Co%20Chap
http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-carroll-county-md-branch-of-naacp.html
20130824 March on Washington, Diversity, Diversity Civil
Rights, Diversity Martin Luther King, Diversity NAACP Carroll Co Chap, NAACP,
NAACP Carroll Co
Martin Luther King Civil Rights Lincoln Memorial Washington
DC march NAACP Carroll County #KED
http://www.scribd.com/doc/163517571/Aug-24-2013-March-on-Washington-tribute-to-the-legacy-of-Dr-Martin-Luther-King
Why you
won’t see or hear the ‘I have a dream’ speech
By Josh
Schiller, Published: August 27, 2013
Josh Schiller is an associate in the New York offices of
Boies Schiller & Flexner who has represented plaintiffs and defendants in
copyright infringement lawsuits.
Fifty years ago this week, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech. But in coverage of events
celebrating its anniversary, the entirety of King’s address will rarely be
reprinted, if at all, nor will viewers see footage of his speech delivered in
full.
+++++++++++++++++++++
20130824 MLK tribute book
Aug. 24, 2013 March on Washington tribute to the legacy of
Dr. Martin Luther King
The
Carroll
County, MD Branch of the NAACP were represented at the
March
on Washington on August 24, 2013 – John Lewis, Pam Zappardino, Virginia
Harrison, Jean Lewis, Anna-Maria Halstead, Charles Harrison, Cheron Harris,
Xiomara Pierre,
Charles
Collyer and
Kevin Earl
Dayhoff at
March
on Washington - 50Th Anniversary.
It was a day of camaraderie – for folks from all over the
nation to come together and hear an amazing group of speakers that included
Rep. John Lewis, Julian Bond, Martin Luther King III, Eric Holder, Cory Booker,
Nancy Pelosi, Myrlie Evers Williams, Al Sharpton, Steny Hoyer, Ed Schultz,
Denise King, Joseph Lowery, CT Vivan, representatives of the Human Rights
Campaign, the National Council of LaRaza, the AFT, the NEA and many, many more.
Martin Luther King Civil Rights Lincoln Memorial Washington
DC march NAACP Carroll County #KED
*****
