60 Years after a Dream
August 28th marks sixty years from Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington in 1963. To remember the event, tens of thousands gathered again at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday to declare that King’s dream of racial equality was still unfulfilled.
Speakers like Rev. Al Sharpton called for an end to systemic racism, hate crimes, police brutality, gun violence, voter suppression, and other civil rights abuses that they said have persisted or worsened in recent years.
Although the crowd was smaller than the original 250,000, attendees carried “Black Lives Matter” signs and wore “I Have a Dream” shirts to continue the push for justice and progress that King began decades ago. Many voiced disappointment at how much work remains to fully achieve King’s vision of liberty and justice for all.
Sadly the weekend also saw a racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville that left 3 people dead. The attacker orginally tried to target a historically black college before getting noticed by campus officers. The Florida Governor has pledged $1m to increase security at HBCUs in the state. This moves the U.S. past the 470th mass shooting attack this year.
