The tens of thousands of marchers celebrating the 50^th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech revisited old territory, and marked some new ground in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

The march took place between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, to emulate Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic speech. The speech, which celebrates its 50^th anniversary on Aug. 28, focused on justice, jobs and freedom.

Marchers also made a stop at the recently completed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, which opened in August 2011.

Despite the progress King’s monument represents, the marchers focused on changes still to be made.

“No one denies progress,” said Paula Johnson, a professor at the Syracuse University College of Law who attended the event. “But in some ways we have regressed tremendously. Economically, the position of people of color— and women of color in particular— is worse statistically than it was 50 years ago.”

She said housing and incarceration rates have also worsened, rather than improved, among minorities since 1963.

Ronald Taylor, president of the NAACP chapter at SU, said the country has advanced in some ways and stagnated in others since the 1963 march on Washington.

He said the idea that America has become a post-racial society has stalled the progress of the civil rights movement.  “Only 50 years ago you had some of the most disgusting travesties known to the human race occur in this very country,” he said.

With such an emphasis on current issues and future progress, the atmosphere of the march was motivated and purposeful, said Danielle McCoy, a political science and African-American studies senior who attended the anniversary march.

“When we finished the march (everybody) knew we were one step closer to making that dream come true,” she said. “It was amazing.”

Both Johnson and McCoy said they were moved by the youngest speaker to appear at the anniversary march, 9-year-old Asean Johnson.

“I am marching for education, justice and freedom,” said Asean in his speech, a video of which appeared on The Huffington Post website.  He decried public school closings in African-American and Latino communities, saying, “Every child deserves a great education.”

Marchers also brought up other recent issues that share the original spirit of the movement, such as same-sex marriage.

“Martin Luther King had a dream that we’d all be treated the same—that’s not being treated the same,” McCoy said about state laws banning gay marriage.

The march was in many ways a piece of living history, emphasizing old issues as well as new, as young people walked side-by-side with those who attended the original march in 1963.

McCoy said the presence of people who had attended the original march motivated and inspired the many students and young people there.

“I think that a lot of people—especially this generation—we’re too complacent, we’re too afraid,” she said. “Back in 1963, people put their blood, sweat and tears (into the movement).”

History will continue to be made when President Obama addresses the public from steps of Lincoln Memorial Aug. 28, on the speech’s actual anniversary.

With many 50-year anniversaries of civil rights landmarks coming up, Johnson urged people use the anniversaries as motivation to address current issues.

The Cold Case Justice Initiative at SU will mark another 50-year anniversary in a few a weeks, with the fifty-year anniversary of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. that killed four young girls.

Students can honor the anniversary, Sept. 15, in Grant Auditorium by watching a screening of the Spike Lee documentary “4 Little Girls.” There will also be a discussion with Helen Shores Lee, a judge from the 10^th judicial circuit in Alabama and civil rights author.

In addition, the campus NAACP chapter will hold its convocation, hosted with the Student African-American Society, in the Gifford Auditorium on Sept. 12.  The speaker, to be announced Sept. 1, was a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement and attended the 2012 presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., NAACP campus chapter president Taylor said.

Taylor said that anniversaries, such as the anniversary of the march on Washington, should motivate future progress.

“If we don’t acknowledge our past, how can we refer to our future?” he said, echoing the campus NAACP’s 2013 platform: using the past to guide the future.  “If we don’t look back, how can we prevent history from repeating itself?”

Published on August 28, 2013 at 1:59 am

Contact Maggie: mmcregan@syr.edu