Septembers, 2012
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Get involved
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by
U. S. R ep . J ohn L ewis
Next year this nation will
celebrate the 50th anniversary of
the March on Washington on Aug.
28, 2013. Many of you will be on
your way to DC to honor the legacy
of a movement that helped liberate,
not only African Americans but all
Americans from the chains of legal
ized segregation.
As we approach this significant
moment in our history, I challenge
you to dig even deeper into your
own legacy and reflect upon the
importance that Aug. 28 has played
in our history. You will find that its
history reads like a chronicle of the
modem African American story.
It was on Aug. 2 8 ,1955,thata 14-
year-old boy named Emmett Till was
kidnapped from his uncle's home in
Money, Miss, and lynched. Many
historians mark his death as the
launch of the modern-day Civil
Rights Movement in America. Just
a few months later on Dec. 1,1955,
Rosa Parks' action would inspire the
boycott o f segregated buses in
Montgomery, Ala. that lasted 381
days.
On Aug. 28, 1957, Strom
T hurm ond, a R epublican
senator from South Carolina
and a staunch segregationist
held the longest filibuster any
one senator ever conducted to
block passage of the Civil Rights
Act of 1957. The bill was written by
then Senate Majority Leader Lyndon
Johnson, and originally devised as
an attempt to mandate voting rights
for African Americans by outlaw
ing intimidation and coercion at the
polls.
The filibuster ended with alter
ations to the bill, but it did not stop
its passage. It was ultimately signed
into law by P resident D w ight
Eisenhower, establishing the Civil
Rights Commission and the Civil
Rights Division of the Department
of Justice. Those two agencies con
tinue to play powerful roles in help
ing to ensure that the voting rights
and civil rights of African Ameri
cans and all Americans are enforced
to this day.
On Aug. 28,1963, Dr. King gave
his historic I Have A Dream Speech
on the National Mall at the March
on Washington for Jobs and Free
dom. It was a testament to the power
of non-violent resistance. But just
one year later on Aug. 28,1964, acts
of police brutality incited rioting in
Philadelphia. O ver300were injured
and over 700 arrested.
A ltogether seven American cit
ies experienced rioting that sum
mer including the Harlem riots and,
Rochester, N. Y., and those in
Paterson and Elizabeth City, N. J.
V iolence struck again on the 28th
in 1968 outside the Dem ocratic
N ational Convention in Chicago
due to another episode o f police
brutality.
By midday on Aug. 28, 2005,
Hurricane Katrina slammed the New
Orleans coast with 145 mile an hour
winds prom pting a m andatory
evacuation o f Orleans Parish. And
finally on Aug. 28,2008, as if to link
this great past to a turning point in
America's future, Barack Obama
became the first African American
Democratic nominee for President
of the United States.
The story o f Aug. 28 tells a
powerful tale of the African Ameri
can struggle to dem and respect
for human dignity in America. I
was there when Dr. King pricked
the moral conscience o f the na
tion calling us to lay down the
burdens o f hate and division. As
the last rem aining speaker from
the M arch on W ashington I can
tell you that the lessons o f that
m ake it plain that we cannot de
feat the adversaries o f justice in
one day, a week or a year.
Ours is the struggle of a lifetime.
We must dedicate ourselves to this
higher calling and stay in the
struggle. The only way to make a
difference is to get involved and
stay engaged, through the highs
and lows, the easy times and the
difficult struggles. That is the les
son of Aug. 28. We have to keep on
pushing and pulling knowing with
out a doubt that "the arc of the moral
universe is long, but it always bends
toward justice."
That is why we must vote in
November and vote like never be
fore, not because we have gotten
everything we ever wanted from the
political process. But because, if we
do not join forces together and con
tinue to take action, we cannot ever
expect to get what we so rightly
deserve.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis is from
Georgia.