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Spirit of civil rights is very much alive,
James
J Zogby
Gulf News, Washington |
Forty years ago, on August 28, 1963, 250,000
Americans convened in Washington, DC to demonstrate for the full civil and
political rights of African Americans. The March on Washington was a
transformative event, a watershed moment in the U.S.'s civil rights
movement.
It was at that "March on Washington" that Reverend Martin Luther
King, Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech. That eloquent appeal for
racial equality was heard by millions and touched the conscience of the
nation.
Much of the U.S. was still defined by the legacy of slavery – an
institution that had brought millions of Africans to America as slave
property. Though freed a century earlier by President Abraham Lincoln's
"Emancipa-tion Proclamation", African Americans remained trapped
in poverty and a system of laws and customs that denied them equal rights
and opportunities to advance.
The civil rights movement that developed in the mid-20th century was a
broad-based effort to challenge the persistence of race-based laws that
had come to define the existence of America's black citizens. Whether
north or south, most Americans lived with forced segregation in education,
employment, and accommodations.
Many Americans have forgotten or simply never learnt about the horrible
reality of that period. Black Americans were not allowed in "white
only" restaurants, schools, and neighbourhoods. In many states, as a
result of unequal laws, African Americans were denied opportunities to
vote.
The civil rights movement – the largely non-violent challenge to this
racist reality – had its greatest expression in the 1963 March. The
coalition of African Americans, the organised labour movement and several
major religious communities came together to demand change. And change was
forthcoming.
Among the demands raised by the March on Washington were:
- passage of meaningful civil rights legislation;
- elimination of racial segregation in public schools, accommodation and
employment; and
- enforcement of voting rights for all Americans.
Immediately after the March, President John F. Kennedy met with the
movement's leadership. Following Kennedy's assassination his successor,
Lyndon Johnson, continued to press forward the civil rights agenda and
succeeded in passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act and in 1965 pushed through
the Voting Rights Act.
Segregation in housing, education and employment were banned and
impediments to voting rights were removed. But change was not immediate,
and resistance to full equality persisted and took new forms. So it was
logical and necessary that the movement for civil rights continue as well.
In 1983 and in 1993, marchers were organised both to commemorate the 20th
and 30th anniversaries of the 1963 March on Washington and to press
forward the unfinished business of the struggle for justice.
Although Arab Americans were present in the early civil rights movement,
they were present as individuals, not as an organised community.
By 1983, that had changed. Arab Americans had organised and become a
political force in American life. We were, therefore, invited to
participate as conveners of later marches. Although there was some
resistance to our involvement, both Senator James Abourezk and I
participated, organised Arab Americans to march, and were provided
platforms to address the gatherings.
At the 1993 March I used my speech to address the anti-immigrant sentiment
that was threatening recent Arab and other newcomers to the U.S. I noted:
"It is a joy to be part of this great celebration of renewal.
I, and Arab Americans across this great nation who march with us today, do
so because we share the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"We too have been the inheritors of its promise and we too will be
the bearers of its torch for future generations...
"We are concerned because today there is a dangerous current, an
anti-immigrant, anti-foreign wave borne of economic hardship. It feeds on
ignorance and creates intolerance and leaves us afraid...
"Think of those knocking at our door and those hiding in our midst
not yet speaking our language, experiencing the pain of discrimination and
the burden of intolerance. Surely our great coalition must reach out to
embrace them.
"They too are brothers and sisters... But sweep aside their fear,
sweep aside our prejudice and see their hard work and commitment and their
hopes and their belief in our promise. In every generation, they have been
the spring from which we have drawn new life and new strength and a
renewed sense of the meaning of America...
"It is to them that the Lady in the Harbour beckons: 'Give me your
tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the
wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, the
tempest tossed, to me.'
"If we allow a wave of intolerance to turn her promise into hollow
words then, I fear, something special in the soul of America will drown.
"Let us, here today, commit ourselves to the promise of Martin Luther
King to all of our brothers and sisters, to stop those who would close our
doors and turn us against 'tomorrow's Americans'. Let us, who are a part
of this great March, commit ourselves to an America of tolerance and
diversity and freedom for all."
And so with new threats to civil rights targeting especially recent
immigrant Arabs and South Asian Muslims, I was proud to once again accept
the invitation to join as a convener for the 40th anniversary March on
Washington, which will take place on August 23, 2003.
With widespread use of "profiling" against Arabs and Muslims and
the continued fear of hate crimes and other forms of discrimination, it
remains important for the civil rights movement to confront these
challenges to full equality for all in America.
Dr. King and the Kennedys have been taken from us, but the spirit that
inspired the civil rights movement remains very much with us.
Arab Americans will march in August, together with thousands of others
from all races and faiths in a mutually reinforcing effort to make Dr.
King's dream a reality in the 21st century.
The writer, president of the Arab American Institute and a Democratic
political lobbyist, hosts the weekly radio and television programme 'A
Capital View' on the Arab Network of America which is also aired live in
the Middle East on MBC. He also writes a weekly column that appears
regularly in Gulf News. He can be contacted at jzogby@gulfnews.com
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |