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Opinion March on Washington: Then and Now F ifty years ago, 250,000 peo- ple gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to call for justice and equality for all Americans. As the anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom approaches, we, participants in the march we helped to plan, are delighted that this remarkable moment will be commemorated. But we are troubled that the overarching significance of the march largely has been obscured, reduced to a sort of mental post- card. What’s too often forgotten is that the event created a climate that eventually led to passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Most people remember the 1963 march as the place where Dr. Mar- tin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, one of the greatest orations in American his- tory. But no single moment can adequately convey the true mean- ing of the March, its goals, achievements and strategy. A. Philip Randolph, the father of the modern Civil Rights Move- ment, called for the March. As president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first majority Black union, Randolph recognized the need to press NNPA G UEST C OLUMNISTS Norman and Velma Murphy Hill Washington to commit to national job creation and an end to employ- ment discrimination. This view was shared by Bayard Rustin, a master strategist and chief organizer of the March. Together, they understood that while unemployment levels were especially high among Blacks, a march focused on job-related issues would appeal to all workers and their labor unions. Randolph and Rustin both believed that organized labor was the most able institution to lift the nation’s “have littles” and “have nots.” Leaders of the major civil rights organizations, including Dr. King, were invited to participate in the planning of the march, expanding the event’s mission to include the struggle for racial equality, and combining the issues of race and class for the first time in a major civil rights demonstra- tion. The very scope and size of the eventual march confirmed the soundness of the Randolph- Rustin strategy. It produced a set of far-reaching demands, such as a massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers in meaningful jobs; a national minimum wage that would pro- vide a decent living for all workers, including domestic and agricultural workers; guarantees for high-quality, integrated public education; and unimpeded access to the ballot box – all of which still are desperately needed today. billion economic stimulus pack- age in 2009 helped to arrest a severe recession, but we still need a much larger public and private investment to ensure jobs are available for all who want them. Shamefully, the real value of the national minimum wage has fallen substantially since the 1970s. And this June, the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority declared Section 4 of the Voting ‘Half a century later, much remains to be done’ Many of the marchers – Black and White – were part of union delegations. And later, under the pressure of civil rights organiza- tions and the AFL-CIO, the Civil Rights Act was strengthened to include Title VII, which barred employment discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion or national origin. Subsequent legislative acts achieved many of the goals of the march. Yet, half a century later, much remains to be done. For example, President Obama’s $800 Rights Act unconstitutional, meaning that minority voters— mostly in the Deep South—no longer can look to Justice Depart- ment oversight of any state and local authorities proposing changes that could suppress the voting rights of minorities. And, although some progress has been made, most Black students still attend segregated public schools. Nonetheless, the Randolph- Rustin strategy offers a guide to reviving major civil rights and employment initiatives. The march succeeded because it achieved the broadest possible, independent political coalition centered on Blacks and organized labor. Labor still wields enormous political and financial muscle, especially when coupled with empowered racial minorities, including the fast-growing Latino population, along with women, intellectuals of good conscience, middle-class liberals, gays and lesbians, and progressive mem- bers of the faith-based community. If we can build a comprehensive alliance along these lines, we can push back the rigid right wing and regain the initiative that showed so much promise in the 1960s. We must continue the civil rights fight for reforming immigration, pro- tecting voting rights, ending racial profiling and lifting the nation out of its economic doldrums. To accomplish this, and more, we must draw on the best of the 1963 March on Washington—looking back to step forward. Norman and Velma Hill were organizers for the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE). Norman, a former AFL-CIO official, is for- mer president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute. Russell Simmons Video Violates Harriet Tubman E When you don’t know very time I hear African American the voice of Rus- B ENNETT women it is easy and sell Simmons, I C OLLEGE lazy to reduce us into hear a cool, clean, clear stereotypes. Does Rus- meditative voice, espe- Julianne sell Simmons know cially on Twitter where Malveaux Harriett Tubman, he drops his yoga knowl- Sojourner Truth, Ida B. edge in a reflective way. Wells, Anna Julia I guess he wasn’t folding Cooper, Sadie TM his legs and saying a cen- tered “Om” when he decided to ridicule an Alexander, and Mary McLeod Bethune? African woman. How did his voice distort Does he know Coretta Scott King, Myrlie itself to decide that he would post a You- Evers, Betty Shabazz, C. Delores Tucker. Tube video on a space where everybody Does he know us, or does he simply see us could watch a so-called parody of “Harriet as the fodder for parodies? The Simmons drama is especially offen- Tubman” having sex with her White slave master with the intent of filming it and sive because when we have African blackmailing him? How could he, this for- American people lifted up, the lifting is ward-focused man, decide to demean an mostly about men. Still, Dr. Martin Luther emancipation heroine? Choose to demean King Jr. would not have made it without the her by making her a sexual object? Even as enthusiasm of Coretta Scott King. Harriett Tubman saved hundreds of he took the offensive tape off his website, please tell me, somebody, what Simmons enslaved people, yet her name is rarely lift- was thinking? (In my first draft of this col- ed when we speak of emancipation. African umn, I called this man a “brother,” but American women’s role in our history is really I mean the brother from another neither admired nor appreciated. When our brothers call the roll, she is given no cre- mindset.) Harriet Tubman is credited for freeing dence, unless it is an afterthought. Brother more than 400 enslaved people. She is cred- Simmons if you just picked up a history ited for pulling a gun on some who book, you’d find African American women embarked on the Under Ground Railroad, who have made a major difference in our then wanted to turn back to massa. It’s lives and in our movement. Russell, do you know Ella Baker, the stal- complicated, but no matter how complicat- ed it was, the depiction of Harriet Tubman a wart sister who stood beside and behind Dr. sex object is not only disparaging to a free- King and others to do organizing work? Do dom fighter, but to every Black woman who you know Professor Joyce Lander who before being an academic was a tireless stands on her shoulders Nearly 20 years ago, Professor Anita Hill civil rights worker? Do you know Alice stared down a Senate Committee and spoke Walker, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes of the sexual harassment she experienced Norton, Maxine Waters.? Or a bit younger, from now Associate “Justice” Clarence do you know Congresswomen Yvette Clark, Thomas. The judiciary committee dis- or Donna Edwards? The work these women missed her claims as “erotomania;” have done and continue to do is possible interestingly, others who had similar claims because they stand on the shoulders of Har- were not allowed to testify. Despite the best riett Tubman and our other ancestors. Your apology doesn’t address the mindset legal representation out there, Hill was excoriated in the media. From my perspec- that allowed this parody in the first place, tive, her best statement was “they don’t the dozens of editors, producers, and assis- know me” in response to those who used tants who saw nothing wrong with this, and minutia to claim special knowledge of her the many Simmons “fans” who laughed at the depiction of a historical figure such as life and daily living. Harriet Tubman as a sexual object who used her vagina for “freedom.” It is as if you are laughing at every Black woman who was enslaved and had no choice when “massa” decided to rape her repeatedly. It is as if you do not recognize the painful history of How could he, this forward-focused man, decide to demean an emancipation heroine? every Black woman who was raped, not only during slavery, but thereafter, when the goal was to keep Black men “in line” by violating Black women. It is as if you put myopic blinder around your eyes, and chose to ignore history and its resultant pain. Can you imagine (often happened) the violation of a child, a violation so intense that baby girls who dreamed of being mothers were told they could not have children? Russell Simmons, once upon a time, you were the ambassador of a generation. Even now, people are mesmerized by your gentle manner, your quest for peace and spiritual- ity and your practice of yoga and Pilates. Wrap your spirituality around your video and tell us where the two intersect. How could you? Why would you? How dare you? When you diminish our legacy for enter- tainment purposes, “pulling” the video is not enough. You need to work at eliminat- ing a mindset that makes you and others think that the denigration of African Ameri- can women is okay. Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.- based economist and writer. She is President Emerita of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C. Week on the Web OG One: We Don’t have a Gang Prob- lem, We Have a Community Prob- lem ... NW News Building a Racial Justice Movement ... Opinion Comedian Aisha For The Skanner News on your smart phone go to www. theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. Tyler Dishes on Her New Book ‘ S e l f - I n f l i c te d Wounds’ ... Enter- tainment Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is Richest in Con- gress with $355 Million ... US News www. August 21, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 5
