'Walking with our ancestors': Thousands fighting for civil rights attend March on Washington

WASHINGTON — Jazmine Williams spread her black and gray blanket on the ground early Saturday just steps from the Lincoln Memorial. She wanted a prime spot so her family, including her 4-year-old niece, Aja, could hear and see speakers at the March on Washington.

“Being here is resistance," said Williams, 32, who had traveled from Baltimore. “As much progress as we make, there’s a system pushing back against that process. We always have to counter all the narratives … It’s important to continue the conversations in the boardrooms and in the streets. It’s important to show up and spread the word."

It’s been 60 years since Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream" speech here during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, demanding equal rights for all, including in housing, jobs and education. Williams joined thousands, including some who had attended in 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial to continue that fight. The effort comes at a time when civil rights leaders and activists complain some states are banning books about race, trying to erase Black history and dismantling voting rights. They also point to court decisions they say rollback affirmative action programs and reproductive health protections.

Speakers, including King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, and Rev. Al Sharpton, head of the National Action Network, challenged the nation to press Congress to approve legislation to better protect voting rights, such as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and adopt more police reforms with the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

“The dreamers will win,’’ Sharpton said. “The dreamers will march. The dreamers will stand up. Black, white, Jewish, LGBTQ. We are the dreamers. We are the children of the dream.”

Push for civil rights bills continues

In the wake of the march in 1963, Congress passed landmark civil rights legislation, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

And in the six decades since the first march, a Black man, Barack Obama, was twice elected president of the United States, Colin L. Powell was the first African American to serve as Secretary of State and Condoleezza Rice became the first Black woman in that role.

More:Americans stood up to racism in 1961 and changed history. This is their fight, in their words.

Today, Kamala Harris is the first Black and South Asian woman vice president and Ketanji Brown Johnson is the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still, civil rights leaders said the fight for equal rights is unfinished.

“Now, we’re dealing with an escalation of attacks on the progress of the last 60 years," said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, who also attended the 20^th and 50^th anniversaries.

Morial said the march alone won’t lead to all the needed changes, but it raises awareness and energizes people. “We have to double down. We have to vote," he said. “We have to continue to work on every single front, in the Congress, in the legislatures, in the courts, in corporate boardrooms, in the community."

Jocelyn Hilaire, 74, of Brooklyn, joined others from the National Action Network on a bus to Washington that morning. Hilaire, who had attended other marches, worried that racial hatred is on the rise.

“I’m happy that we can get together and celebrate what he did," she said referring to King’s speech and work in the movement. “But we're not fulfilling his dream … This is not continuing Dr. King’s dream at all.”  

More women take the stage

One notable change from the march 60 years ago was the addition of more women speakers, including Monica Simpson. Despite the critical role of women in the civil rights movement, few women spoke at the march.

“I feel the pressure of what that means," Simpson said. “We have an incredible moment in this political moment, particularly the women who will be speaking, to bring in a narrative that has been a missing narrative to this larger fight for liberation.”

Civil rights leaders also hosted other events earlier in the week, including a salute to women of the civil rights movement. They also met with officials at the Justice Department and are expected to meet with President Biden Monday.

During the march people chanted, “No Justice. No Peace” and “We want a seat at the table.” They sported shirts that read “Black and Proud," “Racism is a public health issue" and “Good Trouble.”

The march drew members of unions, civil rights organizations, sororities and fraternities and faith groups, including from Jewish organizations. Churches and faith groups have long played a key role in the movement and were also key to getting congregations to attend the march 60 years ago.

John Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice/AAJC, which was a co-sponsor for the first time, said it “absolutely matters" to hold the event particularly to push back against “forces trying to divide” civil rights groups.

For example, he said, it's important to counter misinformation that many Asian Americans don’t support affirmative action programs. “It’s important to show unity," he said. “There are groups that want to maintain power. They know the best way to do it is to divide the other groups that don’t have that power.”

Some marchers showed up as early as 6:30 a.m., including Amya Thomas, 21, a junior at North Carolina A&T State University, and Valerie Daehler, 21, a senior at Wingate University in North Carolina. They joined students on a bus from historically Black colleges and universities.

Daehler welcomed the chance to see where the march happened 60 years ago. “It’s different to read about it and experience it," she said.

“We’re walking with our ancestors," said Thomas, who has participated in smaller protests on her campus, but this was her first march in Washington. “I feel like we’re doing something monumental ... It makes me want to be more intentional with my life.”