King
delivered the moving speech on August 28, 1963 to 250,000 people,
one-fifth of them white, who had turned out for the March on Washington.
At
the time, many blacks could not vote. Others were murdered for trying.
Blacks and whites often could not use the same restaurants, bathrooms or
hotels.
"I
have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of
former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit
down together at a table of brotherhood," King's voice rose and
fell as he stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
King
later received the Nobel peace prize.
Saturday's
commemoration in downtown Washington was the third, after similar events
in 1983 and 1993.
The
original march demanded "jobs and freedom." Forty years later,
the slogans are much the same: King's 40-year-old dream of equality has
not been realized.
The
commemoration began Friday night. Coretta Scott King placed a plaque to
mark the spot on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where her late
husband made the speech. A recording of the speech was played during the
run-up to the event.
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|
Martin
Luther King, 40 years ago
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Scott
King said she hoped "in the not too distant future" people
could come to view her husband's dream not as a vision "but as a
glorious reality."
A
hundred political, religious and civil rights groups joined to organize
this year's march and to demand justice for the more than 36 million
African Americans who make up 12 percent of the US population.
One
of the placards the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People printed up for marchers said: "The NAACP refuses to believe
the bank of justice is bankrupt."
"The
scales of justice are not balanced," said Joyce, a volunteer for
the NAACP. She tied strings onto the placards so that marchers could
hang them around their necks, just as they did in 1963. "If you
don't have money and you are colored ... its going to be more difficult
than when you are white," she said.
According
to U.S. statistics, one black youth in 10 between the age of 25 and 29
is in prison, compared with 2.9 percent of Latinos and 1.1 percent of
whites.
Poverty
disproportionately plagues the black population, 23 percent of which
lives below the poverty line, while just 12 percent of whites do.
The
issue of affirmative action and racial preferences to boost blacks'
participation in professional activities is still controversial.
Walter
Fauntroy, 70, who organized the 1963 march and the two later
commemorations, challenged presidential candidates from the main two US
political parties ahead of next year's campaigning and election.
"Their
names should not be on the ballot, on November 2, 2004 if they haven't
pledged to end the reign of the white radical right," said the
former U.S. legislator.
"We
did it 40 years ago when we assembled 250,000 people at the Lincoln
Memorial to demand a change in the public policy towards people of
African descent who were required to drink water from separate fountains
from those of white people.
"We
will do it again."
King
was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968. The fatal shot was fired
by a white man, James Earl Ray, who died in prison in 1998.
