President Obama leads 50th anniversary ceremony of Civil Rights March on Washington, Congressional Black Caucus chair Rep. Fudge of Ohio among speakers, Fudge said that Congress must pass a jobs bill to help Blacks, all Americans and that "it is up to Congress to make sure no child goes hungry to school or bed," Bill Clinton said that "a Democracy does not make it harder to vote than an assault weapon"
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| President Barack Obama and Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-11) of Ohio, who is also chair of the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress |
"Because they marched, America changed, the doors of equal opportunity swung open...." President Barack Obama at the 50th anniversary ceremony on the March on Washington on August 28, 2013
"But a great Democracy does not make it harder to vote than an assault weapon..." Former President Bill Clinton at the 50th anniversary ceremony on the March on Washington on August 28, 2013
"It is up to us, the Congress of the United States of America to pass a jobs bill that ensures decent jobs for all citizens..." Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge of Ohio, also chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, at the 50th anniversary ceremony on the March on Washington on August 28, 2013
WASHINGTON, D.C- Barack Obama, the first Black president of the United States of America, was privileged yesterday to preside over the 50th-year anniversary ceremony of the March on Washington on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. where the late Civil Rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic "I Have A Dream" speech five decades ago. Some 250,000 people were there to support King in 1963 when people from across the nation marched for jobs, justice and freedom.
At the time King was 34-years-old and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a Civil Rights organization that has been unable to regain the status that he brought to it during the height of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. He would be shot to death five years later on a Tennessee balcony before a scheduled labor rights boycott that he intended to lead.
Thousands of people stood steps away and joined the president and First Lady Michelle Obama in the celebration yesterday, one with a long list of speakers in addition to Obama, including two of King's children, Civil Rights Activists Merlie Evers- Williams and the Rev. Al Sharpton, Congressional Black Caucus Leader Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-11) of Ohio, Oprah, and U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia (D-5),73, the only original speaker at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington that King led.
"Because they marched, America changed," said Obama. "The doors of opportunity swung open."
But the president cautioned that more work is needed to bring America to a Democracy where equal opportunity flourishes.
Others that spoke echoed the sentiment, including two of the president's predecessor presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both Democrats like Obama.
"What a dept we owe to people that came here 50 years ago," said Clinton (pictured). "But a great Democracy does not make it harder to vote than an assault weapon."
The voting rights issue for Blacks and poor Americans, and others disenfranchised by state legislatures across the country that are changing or attempting to state voting laws to make it harder to vote, was center stage as it was on Saturday when Sharpton led a march on the capital to commensurate King's legacy. And the fight for jobs for Black and other Americans remains paramount too, some of the speakers said.
"It is up to us, the Congress of the United States of America to pass a jobs bill that ensures decent jobs for all citizens," said Rep. Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose majority Black 11th congressional district includes the largely Black east side of Cleveland and the predominantly Black neighboring East Cleveland, both impoverished municipalities of Ohio.
"Now it is up to us to ensure that we have a criminal justice system that does not value more than another," said the congresswoman. "Now it is up to us to make sure that no child goes hungry to school or bed."
WASHINGTON, D.C- Barack Obama, the first Black president of the United States of America, was privileged yesterday to preside over the 50th-year anniversary ceremony of the March on Washington on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. where the late Civil Rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic "I Have A Dream" speech five decades ago. Some 250,000 people were there to support King in 1963 when people from across the nation marched for jobs, justice and freedom.
At the time King was 34-years-old and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a Civil Rights organization that has been unable to regain the status that he brought to it during the height of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. He would be shot to death five years later on a Tennessee balcony before a scheduled labor rights boycott that he intended to lead.
Thousands of people stood steps away and joined the president and First Lady Michelle Obama in the celebration yesterday, one with a long list of speakers in addition to Obama, including two of King's children, Civil Rights Activists Merlie Evers- Williams and the Rev. Al Sharpton, Congressional Black Caucus Leader Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-11) of Ohio, Oprah, and U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia (D-5),73, the only original speaker at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington that King led.
"Because they marched, America changed," said Obama. "The doors of opportunity swung open."
But the president cautioned that more work is needed to bring America to a Democracy where equal opportunity flourishes.
Others that spoke echoed the sentiment, including two of the president's predecessor presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both Democrats like Obama.
The voting rights issue for Blacks and poor Americans, and others disenfranchised by state legislatures across the country that are changing or attempting to state voting laws to make it harder to vote, was center stage as it was on Saturday when Sharpton led a march on the capital to commensurate King's legacy. And the fight for jobs for Black and other Americans remains paramount too, some of the speakers said.
"It is up to us, the Congress of the United States of America to pass a jobs bill that ensures decent jobs for all citizens," said Rep. Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose majority Black 11th congressional district includes the largely Black east side of Cleveland and the predominantly Black neighboring East Cleveland, both impoverished municipalities of Ohio.
"Now it is up to us to ensure that we have a criminal justice system that does not value more than another," said the congresswoman. "Now it is up to us to make sure that no child goes hungry to school or bed."
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