On August 28, 1963, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his historic “I Have a Dream Speech” at the Lincoln Memorial before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people marching in Washington to demand racial equality. Dr. King said:
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Fifty years later, the country remembered the March on Washington and honored Dr. King’s historic speech. Project Vote was there, with most of our DC staff, at the Lincoln Memorial for the event.
President Obama spoke, along with former President Clinton and former President Carter. There were also speeches by several members of the King family, including Dr. King’s 87-year-old sister, who gave a great speech (and wore a great hat). Congressman John Lewis, the sole surviving speaker from the 1963 march, asked “Americans to keep the faith and keep our eyes on the prize.” And at precisely 3 p.m., members of the King family rang a bell to honor Dr. King’s call 50 years earlier to “let freedom ring.” It was the same bell that once hung in the Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama where a bomb killed four little black girls in 1963.
Project Vote’s staff was thrilled and honored to be at yesterday’s historic commemoration. Here is what we thought after the event:
“President Obama was inspiring and he reminded us all that we must endure to continue the fight for justice because “[t]he arc of the moral universe may bend toward justice, but it doesn’t bend on its own.’” – Sarah Brannon, Director, Public Agency Registration Program
“It was gratifying to hear so many of the speakers refer to the importance of the franchise, because a sound democracy cannot exist where some peoples’ right to participate is limited. When freedom rings, it must ring with the voices of all Americans.” – Michelle Rupp, Election Counsel and Assistant General Counsel
“Fighting crowds and rain with my fellow Project Vote colleagues in order to attend the ‘Let Freedom Ring’ commemorative event at the Lincoln Memorial today, was well worth the struggle. Listening to presidents and other well established individuals speak to the American public about our nation’s past, present and hopeful future was enlightening and gave me great hope for what is to come. When thinking about voting rights and the changes that we have seen in recent months that affect them, my favorite quote of the day is from President Bill Clinton: ‘We cannot be discouraged by a Supreme Court decision that said we don’t need this critical provision of the Voting Rights Act…But a great democracy does not make it harder to vote than to buy an assault weapon.’” Colline Ferrier, Program Assistant/Public Policy Analyst
“President Obama said today that Dr. King’s vision lead our country on a salvation path for the oppressed as well as the oppressor. I love this articulation because it highlights Dr. King’s vision that the political is the personal. Just as an individual can achieve freedom and fulfillment only when personal relationships are based on respect for others’ dignity, as a society, we can achieve our potential–political, economic, and cultural–only when our laws and political arrangements are grounded in the dignity of each member.” Katy Flanagan, Senior Election Counsel, Public Agency Registration Program
“Standing in the crowds between monuments and memorials to Washington, Lincoln, and veterans of World War II, I was just one of many celebrating the partial achievement of Dr. King’s dream. Hopefully, in the next 50 years, we’ll have achieved his dream in its entirety.” – Niyati Shah, Election Counsel