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John:
57 years ago today, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington, DC for the March on Washington. At the march, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., blessed the world with his moving and iconic "I Have a Dream" speech.
A lot of people are going to quote Dr. King today. Some will co-opt his words in order to reframe what’s happening in this moment. They will brand protesters as “looters” and “mobs” and condem them, but fail to acknowledge the police brutality they are protesting. They will stand on national stages and call for law and order but won’t mention the racial biases and policies that infect our justice system. They’ll yell and manipulate facts, and they’ll try to divert our attention away from this very important work. We cannot let ourselves be distracted.
“We are tired. We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again. And then you holler, ‘Be patient.’ How long can we be patient? We want our freedom and we want it now.”
- John Lewis, 23-year-old chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), at the 1963 March on Washington.
The work ahead will not be easy. Reimagining America and building a future that serves all of us will take people power - and lots of it. re:power has launched additional public trainings for 2020, offering a vital resource to strengthen the movement to ensure that our demands for justice are met with real actions, not just lip service. Support this fight by donating to re:power now to ensure that we see real progress in 2020 and beyond.
“They would have social peace at the expense of social and racial justice. They are more concerned with easing racial tension than enforcing racial democracy.”
- A. Philip Randolph, Founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, at the 1963 March on Washington.
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