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Opinion
50 Years Later — Still Marching
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
B ERNIE F OSTER
Founder/Publisher
B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER
Executive Editor
T ED B ANKS
Advertising Manager
J ERRY F OSTER
Account Executive
L ISA L OVING
News Editor
H ELEN S ILVIS
Multimedia Editor
B RUCE P OINSETTE
Reporter
D AVID K IDD
Graphic Designer
M ONICA J. F OSTER
Seattle Office Coordinator
J ULIE K EEFE
S USAN F RIED
Photographers
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F
or a while, it looked like the
50th anniversary observance
of the March on Washington
would expose a sharp split in the
Civil Rights Movement. Al Sharp-
ton jumped ahead of his
colleagues by cornering Martin
Luther King III and the two of
them announced a March on
Washington for Saturday, August
24. Other civil rights leaders were
planning events around that time
and complained privately that
Sharpton and Martin III had
locked up key funding from major
labor groups, a primary source of
funding for the movement.
A series of high-profile events –
the Supreme Court’s deci-
sion in Shelby County v.
Holder gutting the heart of
the Voting Rights Act of
1965, remanding a Univer-
sity of Texas affirmative
action case back to the
appellate level for stricter
scrutiny and George Zim-
merman being found not
guilty of second-degree
murder in connection with
the shooting death of 17-year-old
unarmed Trayvon Martin in San-
ford, Fla. – left African-Americans
and their supporters clamoring for
an outlet to express their disgust.
Suddenly, the march organized
by Sharpton became the focal
point. With Sharpton still working
on other leaders in the back-
ground, urging them to come
aboard, the pieces began to quick-
ly fall in place. At this point, it
looks like all of the major civil
rights leaders – including Marc
Morial, president and CEO of the
National League; Charles Steele,
CEO of Dr. King’s old organiza-
tion, the Southern Christian
T HE C URRY
R EPORT
George E.
Curry
Leadership Conference (SCLC);
Jesse Jackson, founder of the
Rainbow PUSH Coalition; Ben
Jealous, president and CEO of the
NAACP, among others – will join
Sharpton and King as headliners
of the Aug. 24 march.
Urban League convention assess-
ing the progress made since the
original March on Washington, Al
Sharpton said, “You say why
march about voting? Well, that’s
how we got it the first time. We
did not get voting rights at a cock-
tail sip, trying to have racial
harmony sessions. We got it by
organizing and galvanizing and
the only way we are going to make
changes is by organizing and gal-
vanizing.”
Let’s not forget that Trayvon
Martin’s name became a house-
hold word only after marches led
by Sharpton, college students and
activists around the nation, insist-
ing
that
George
Zimmerman be brought to
trial for murder.
It’s the combination of
marching and a specific
agenda that leads to
change. And while we’re
on the subject of marches,
not everyone marched in
the demonstrations of the
1960s. There was not unity
among civil rights leaders
– Roy Wilkins, for example, was
intensely jealous of Dr. King – and
many people did not jump on the
King bandwagon until after he was
assassinated in Memphis and lived
thereafter through his “I Have a
Dream” speech and on U.S.
postage stamps.
Unfortunately, there will be two
observations of the 1963 March.
One on Aug. 24 co-chaired by
Sharpton and Martin, III and
another one, more of a celebration
of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream”
speech, on Aug. 28, the actual date
of the original March. President
Obama, who has had difficulty in
the past uttering Dr. King’s name
We should have reached
wherever we were
marching to by now. The
reality is that we haven’t
reached our destination
Of course, there are the usual
detractors who argue, as conserva-
tive talk show host Armstrong
Williams does, that we’ve been
marching so long that we should
have reached wherever we were
marching to by now.
The reality is that we haven’t
reached our destination. Black
unemployment has been twice that
of Whites for the past five
decades. The progress made by
expanding the Black middle class
has been eroded by the Great
Recession and Blacks are profiled
while walking the streets of New
York City or Sanford, Fla.
At a panel at the recent National
in public, will speak at the second
event organized by Bernice King,
the sole surviving daughter of the
slain civil rights leader.
To those who question the need
for another march, they should
examine a graphic created by the
Economic Policy Institute (EPI)
that compares goals of the 1963
March with today’s reality:
Goal: We Demand an end to ghet-
tos. Reality: We still live in
ghettos. Forty-five percent of
poor Black children but only
12 percent of poor White chil-
dren live in neighborhoods of
concentrated poverty.
Goal: We Demand an End to
School Segregation. Reality:
Seventy-four percent of Black
children attend schools that are
50-100 percent non-White,
resulting in fewer resources
than majority White schools.
Goal: We March for Jobs for All.
Reality: In 2012, the Black
unemployment rate –14 per-
cent – was 2.1 times the White
unemployment rate (6.6 per-
cent).
Goal: We March for a Living
Wage. Reality: The minimum
wage of $7.25 an hour, well
below the $11.06 an hour a
full-time worker needed in
2011 to keep a family of four
out of poverty (36 percent of
Black workers make poverty-
level wages).
That’s why we’re still marching.
George E. Curry, former editor-
in-chief of Emerge magazine, is
editor-in-chief of the National
Newspaper Publishers Associa-
tion News Service (NNPA)
E-mail: info@theskanner.com
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Hip Hop Artists Avoiding D.C. March
B
eginning this weekend,
there will be two celebra-
tions of the 1963 March on
Washington for Jobs and Freedom
– one on Saturday, Aug. 24 and
another one on Aug. 28, the actual
anniversary of the march. Yet, I
haven’t heard or seen much enthu-
siasm from the Hip Hop
community and began to wonder
what it is going to take to bridge
the gap between these two genera-
tions. While no one can argue the
importance and significance of the
original March, we may have to
pull teeth to get this generation to
participate wholeheartedly.
Let’s examine why.
If you analyze many Hip
Hop songs, the content con-
tains much of what each
individual sees or interprets
during their life experience.
Many even fabricate or over
exaggerate their experiences
to emphasize their point. Lis-
teners respond because they
can relate to or vividly visualize
the subject matter.
When it comes to the Civil
Rights Movement, young people
simply don’t see the benefit. Hip
Hop has a ‘prove it to me’ mental-
ity. It is also suffers from an
instant gratification syndrome. If
we want to successfully connect
the generations we have to present
a transparent agenda that leads to
direct and tangible results for
everyone. The Hip Hop communi-
Page 4 The Portland Skanner August 21, 2013
H IP H OP
U NION
Jineea
Butler
ty analyzes through sharp lenses
and is slow to trust anything that
is presented by people who are
considered outsiders. That is also
why anyone who poses as Hip
Hop’s ally gets away like a fat rat.
sponsored by Councilman Ras
Baraka, will provide a local forum
for those unable to attend the Aug.
25 march in Washington. Hip Hop
artists Brand Nubian, Dead Prez,
EPMD, Wise Professor, Mr.
Cheeks, Naughty By Nature, Jasiri
X, Redman, Lakim Shabazz and
Savion Glover have all answered
the call to use their voices to end
violence and uplift the cause in the
24 Hours from 6 P.M. on August
23 to 6 P.M. on August 24. Hakim
explained, “There is a large
amount of work still to do, I hope
we honor peace over violence,
love over hate and building
over destroying.”
Another recording artist,
P.S. Dot, said, “I appreciate
and definitely respect it, (the
50th anniversary march) but
there is so much that needs to
done. While we have a
--Tyrone Price be
Black president in office, we
still have incidents like
Trayvon Martin with virtually
on Washington. Even though I the same response we had 50 years
can’t make it, I hope the outcome ago. Nothing. Personally, I feel
is quality over quantity, and the like there needs to be a new
right people show up to Washing- avenue of protest. We in the Hip
Hop community need to know
ton.”
When asked about the lack of what is the next course of action.
interest in the Hip Hop communi- There is only a certain amount of
ty, Hakim further emphasized times I am going to ask for some-
that Rap community, (not to be thing before I start demanding.”
confused with the Hip Hop com-
munity) is not in tune.
Hakim’s 3nd annual 24 Hours of
Read the rest online at
www.theskanner.com
Peace Event in Newark, N.J.,
Peace founder and Hip Hop artist
Hakim Green from Channel Live
to weigh in with his perspective,
“Considering it’s the 50th
anniversary of the March, it’s a
shame that we aren’t more
focused on it and haven’t risen to
the level that inspired the original
March. I don’t understand why
our elders haven’t been galvaniz-
ing people to honor the 50th
anniversary as soon as President
Obama started his second term in
office. The Million Man March for
me was the commemorative event
that carried the spirit of the March
‘I am tired of hearing that things are going to
change if I go out and March for their
agenda. Things haven’t changed’
Tyrone Price, a loyal follower of
Hip Hop and the Five Percent
Nation, says he is sick of the illu-
sions. He reasons, “You only have
one time to convince me that the
apple is green, before I look at it
and see that its red and after that I
will never trust you again. I feel
that way about civil rights lead-
ers. I am tired of hearing that
things are going to change if I go
out and March for their
agenda. Things haven’t changed.”
I also reached out to 24 Hours of