It is now 63 years since more than 250,000 people marched on Washington, D. C. for jobs, justice and the right to vote. That march was pivotal to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, both of which have produced changes that have touched the lives of each and every one of us. The Publisher of this newspaper was there at the Lincoln Memorial on that hot day in August of 1963 as people came by bus, train, car, horse and wagons, and on foot.
Now, 63 years later, the struggle continues. Voting Rights and Civil Rights are under attack. That’s not a surprise. What is necessary now is that we must march and support those who are able to march in defense of all our rights now at stake. Those who can’t be there to march must support the ones who can. We can do that by ensuring that we are registered to vote as well as willing to march.
This march, as it has been clearly stated by the organizers, is not about one election. This is about our reaching across generations to ensure that those who suffered and died for our rights did not do so in vain.
Let’s make a commitment, right where we stand that we will be supportive; that we will not make this march a day of remembering a dream, but rather a step toward the final reality that we all deserve under this democracy that we say we live by and love. The struggle does indeed continue.
