It would be the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington….
Sharpton wants the theme to be ‘Black Lives matter’ and he wants LOT of people to make the trip….
“George Floyd’s story has been the story of Black folks, because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed of being is you kept your knee on our neck,” Sharpton said, his voice detonating into a roar, as the audience leaped to its feet and people shouted, “Preach, Rev!”
He saluted Martin Luther King III, who was in the audience. “I’m glad Martin the Third is here today,” Sharpton said. “Because on August 28th, the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, we’re going back to Washington, Martin. That’s where your father stood in the shadows of the Lincoln Memorial and said, ‘I have a dream.’ Well, we’re going back this August 28th to restore and recommit that dream.”
The audience erupted with applause. Someone sitting next to King clapped him on the shoulder while King’s chest heaved with deep, emotional breaths. The announcement of a big national march was a surprise. Commemorating major anniversaries of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom is commonplace — King and Sharpton led a march on the 50th in 2013 — but the 57th hardly qualifies as major. Sharpton had in mind a bigger agenda than mere commemoration. He had discussed the possibility with King and a few others. But no decision to go public had been made. There was no plan, no budget, no permit. And there was a pandemic.
“I didn’t know I was going to announce it until the moment,” Sharpton told me a couple of weeks later. “I started thinking on that platform that people are paying attention. We got a caustic president. This is the time. If we can’t get real national legislation now, I don’t know what else could do it.”
For the first time since 1963, a civil rights march has the potential to come close to the original in leaving a lasting impact — not just by paving the way for legislative victories, but by braiding disparate moral dramas and individual stories from local communities into a teeming tapestry on America’s front lawn. And since it comes in a presidential election year — unlike the original — this march will be charged by the politics of the moment, poised to channel resistance to President Trump’s record of race baiting into a massive get-out-the-vote effort.
Still, this will be no easy test of the relevance of a 57-year-old organizing tactic. The 1963 march pioneered the now-familiar ritual of elevating all manner of causes — from peace and women’s rights to calls for an end to abortion — by massing supporters on the Mall within sight of the U.S. Capitol and the White House. Sharpton, 65, perhaps shows his age by resorting to it almost by default. With the recent flourishing of another style of protest — autonomous, local demonstrations exploding in real time on the streets and social media with no central planning — will young Black Lives Matter demonstrators turn out for what they might consider their grandfathers’ march on Washington? And is a massive march on the Mall even possible in the time of covid?
Within a day of Sharpton’s announcement, Washington hotels began to sell out for that weekend. A half-dozen of the nation’s leading civil rights organizations quickly joined as co-sponsors. Sharpton said he was overwhelmed with people promising to march. “I’m sure all of them thought it was a well-laid-out plan already,” he told me. “But if you know the ’60s, that’s how they did. I mean, it has always been a leap of faith.”…
Note…
The Republican Presidential Convention is August 24 to August 27….
The spectacle of Sharpton’s March coverage will effectively steal ALL media coverage from Donald Trump and the Republicans ….
And unlike the civil rights march in 1963?
This one will be a mixture of different race’s….
And Al Sharpton will be the creator of this….
image above Washington Post….Marvin Joseph
Updates….
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I was on the 1963 March on Washington (although I didn’t hear “I have a dream” until I bought the LP record of the March), but I’m having trouble watching this mixture of rage and the glorification of Al Sharpton, who looks nothing so much as like a black Donald Trump, who has to put himself in the middle of every image. I only caught a few phrases from his speech about America getting its knee off black people’s back, but they weren’t uplifiting or inspiring.
[After Rev. Al’s endorsement of Tawana Brawley’s false charges, which led to one suicide, I have little respect for him.]
The one worthwhile fragment of the fragments I caught was of George Floyd’s brother during the 8 minute 46-second silence.
Let me go back and watch a little more.
You can watch it live on the free streaming services, http://www.CBSN.com and ABC live.
The only
The Rev is trying to do a Good thing….
But he IS also watching the ratings…..
(He does get paid by a Cable News Channel)
Its ‘IS’ the ‘Way’ these days…..