The March on Washington, D.C. 56 Years Later

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher, The Voice and Viewpoint Newspaper

This week it will be 56 years since the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. marched on Washington, D. C. with more than 250,000 people, mostly Black. Some came by bus, train, and car. Some walked. On that hot August Day, this publisher was a young teenager who worked on Capitol Hill for the late Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.. I climbed a tree near the Lincoln Memorial, above the sea of humanity dressed in their “Sunday Go to Meeting Clothes” in spite of the heat and carrying their signs.

Today, 56 years later, racism continues to raise its head just as it did on the day of that first march and many since then. What is different today is the openness of the continued effort to silence the vote that they were unable to steal in November 2020. What is also present today is that this year we will not only be marching in Washington, D.C. on August 28th but in cities throughout America. This time, while we are demanding passage of the John Lewis Voting rights Act H.R.4 which will stop the voter suppression, we are also registering people to vote throughout this country so that we can overwhelmingly defeat these restrictive laws at the ballot box, if necessary.

The fact that we have had a Black president for two terms, Black and Jewish members of the Senate from the State of Georgia, with more women and people of color in Congress, has frightened White conservative voters to the point that they are no longer concerned about open and fair voting where they clearly can not win, but must now go to “by any means necessary” to retain power. Each of us can make a difference. Let’s celebrate these 56 years of struggle with renewed participation that honors those who came before us. And the few of us who were there and are still here will be there with you.