HISTORIC Weekend August 24, 2013

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, which in 1963 culminated in Martin Luther King's delivery of the "I Have a Dream Speech." This year, the crowd that retraced King's steps to the Lincoln Memorial heard from Attorney General Eric Holder, Democratic congressman John Lewis (who was the youngest speaker at the original march), Martin Luther King III, Jesse Jackson Sr., Al Sharpton, and the parents of Trayvon Martin, among others. 

Issues on the agenda included the continuing fight for civil rights, Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down a major part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Stand Your Ground Laws, Trayvon Martin, and racial profiling. Speaking about King and his cohort, Holder said, "But for them, I would not be attorney general of the United States, and Barack Obama would not be president of the United States of America ... Fifty years later, their march is now our march, and it must go on." Lewis, recalling his time as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, said, "I gave a little blood on that bridge in Selma, Alabama, for the right to vote." He urged Congress to pass legislation to replace the requirements eliminated by the Supreme Court ruling, saying, "The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a Democratic society, and we've got to use it." 

This is just a little from the historic events that began this weekend which started Friday with the unveiling of  the commemorative postage stamp. There will be more throughout the week with President Obama speaking on Wednesday, August 28, 2013 (which also happens to be my oldest daughter's 35th birthday).