Obama, marchers mark 50th anniversary of civil rights turning point

 

President Barack Obama addresses the crowd gathered on the National Mall in Washington on Wednesday, August 28. Fifty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his watershed "I Have a Dream" speech during the historic March on Washington.

Throngs fill the mall to mark the 50th anniversary of the march and one of the most memorable speeches of the 20th century. Commemorating the long fight toward racial equality that many say hasn't ended, marchers on the National Mall on Wednesday -- including President Barack Obama -- commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

On that August day in 1963, when King and his fellow marchers attended what he labeled "the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation," few in that crowd could have imagined that half a century later, an African-American president of the United States would mark the occasion with a speech in the same location.

"His words belong to the ages, possessing a power and prophecy unmatched in our time," Obama told a crowd that gathered under gray skies and intermittent drizzle to attend the five-hour ceremony.
King, Obama said, "gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions," heralding leaders who braved intimidation and violence in their fight for equal rights.

"Because they kept marching, America changed. Because they marched, the civil rights law was passed. Because they marched, a voting rights law was signed," Obama said. "Because they marched, city councils changed and state legislatures changed and Congress changed and, yes, eventually, the White House changed."

While speakers Wednesday marked the great progress toward King's goal of racial accord, many suggested that the dream was far from realized, citing high minority unemployment, voter identification laws that critics say prevent African-Americans from casting ballots, and the verdict in the closely watched Trayvon Martin murder trial.

"We have come a great distance in this country in the 50 years. But we still have a great distance to go before we fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, adding that progress toward King's goal could be marked by his own election to Congress.

"But there are still invisible signs, barriers in the hearts of humankind that form a gulf between us," Lewis said.

Another leader from King's era of the civil rights movement, Myrlie Evers-Williams, said the United States had "certainly taken a turn backwards" in the quest for civil rights.  "Because they kept marching, America changed. Because they marched, the civil rights law was passed. Because they marched, a voting rights law was signed," Obama said. "Because they marched, city councils changed and state legislatures changed and Congress changed and, yes, eventually, the White House changed."

While speakers Wednesday marked the great progress toward King's goal of racial accord, many suggested that the dream was far from realized, citing high minority unemployment, voter identification laws that critics say prevent African-Americans from casting ballots, and the verdict in the closely watched Trayvon Martin murder trial.

"We have come a great distance in this country in the 50 years. But we still have a great distance to go before we fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, adding that progress toward King's goal could be marked by his own election to Congress.

"But there are still invisible signs, barriers in the hearts of humankind that form a gulf between us," Lewis said.

Another leader from King's era of the civil rights movement, Myrlie Evers-Williams, said the United States had "certainly taken a turn backwards" in the quest for civil rights.  Former President Jimmy Carter, speaking ahead of Obama, asserted that recent developments in American policy would have disappointed King.

"I believe we all know how Dr. King would have reacted to the new ID requirements to exclude certain voters, especially African-Americans," said Carter, a Democrat. "I think we all know how Dr. King would have reacted to the Supreme Court striking down a crucial part of the Voting Rights Act just recently passed overwhelmingly by Congress. culled from www.cnn.com