A reminder of what’s still to be accomplished
On Saturday, citizens from Anne Arundel County will be joining tens of thousands of people in the Nation’s Capitol in observance of the anniversary of 1963 March on Washington. It was at that rally for jobs, freedom and justice more than a half-century ago that the late Congressman John Lewis called on his nation to form “a more perfect union.”
Now, attorney Daryl Jones, a former Anne Arundel County councilman and chair of the national Transformative Justice Coalition is spearheading an effort to mobilize, organize and energize citizens from the county to attend.
On Friday at 2 p.m., civil leaders from the county are planning on attending the aforementioned event including Jackie Allsup, Dee Goodwyn, Mary Deschamps, Larry Diggs, Elder Charles E. James, Sr., James Spearman, David Grogan, Randy Williams, Angelina Brown, Arlene Jackson, Phyllis Collins, Marc Apter and Jeffrey C. Henderson, to name a few.
The bus will leave Friday from the People’s Park across from the Arundel Center and the site of the Civil Rights Foot Soldiers Memorial that honors the men and women who attended the original march.
If one looks back to 1963 the issues are the same today. In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about police brutality, an issue that continues to haunt the nation.
The recent case involving Anne Arundel County Police Officer Daniel Reynolds, in which he was charged with using excessive force, convicted, and required to take anger management classes underscores that the problem is still with us.
Just as there was an attempt to suppress the rights of people of color to vote in 1963, today we see all kinds of schemes to do the same.
Even in Annapolis, there was an unsuccessful legal effort to prevent mail-in ballots to voters for this fall’s city primaries.
When one measures the gains that have been made in this nation, those gains have been hard fought. Indeed, they have come in part, because people of goodwill of every hue have demanded that “the dream” Dr. King gave his life for become a reality.
Last year, I watched hundreds of youth, white, Latino, Asians, African Americans march in places like Arnold, Deale, Galesville, Glen Burnie, Pasadena, Shadyside and Severn demanding justice for the family of the late George Floyd.
They then exercised their right to vote and literally changed the course of this nation. Just as in 1963, people fresh from narrow jail cells appealed to a broader America, this Saturday, once again, people will be marching to make America better and not bitter.
I too will be joining in this important march. I will always remember what my late mother, who died at the age of 104 used to always tell me: “Son, America is worth fighting for. Sometimes it doesn’t live up to all those things it should, but we must keep pressing on.”
In my mother’s lifetime, she saw women win the right to vote, an African-American became president, Nelson Mandela walk out a prison and become president in South Africa.
Her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren saw America become the most diverse nation in the world. It is a nation that literally reflects the world’s population. By 2040, it will be a nation that truly can sing, “We Are The World.”
It is because of my mom and the ancestors who never saw the fruit of their labor that I can say: “A Luta Continua,” which means that the struggle continues and in the words of my mom “we must keep pressing on.”