I spent
eight hours today amongst thousands at the March on Washington , and the people present were some
of the most remarkable, resilient people I have ever had the privilege to be
around. The number-one face on T-shirts, placards, and even homemade drawings
was not President Obama or even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was Trayvon
Martin. I also witnessed homemade signs calling for jobs programs, speaking out
against the school closures and in solidarity with those overseas victimized by
US militarism. The people at this march are the face of
resistance to what Dr. King called the “evil triplets of militarism,
materialism and racism.”
The main
speakers at the march, however, did not match the politics and urgency of those
who gathered in the Saturday heat. Even more frustrating is that few tried. I
expect to get all kinds of hate mail for what I’m about to write, but not to
write it would be an act of duplicity based on what I saw and what I heard. I
saw the great Julian Bond get only two minutes to say his piece before being
shuttled from the stage. I saw Reverend Jesse Jackson, who has done remarkable
work in recent years against the banks and Chicago school closures, also get less time
than a pop song. I saw Reverend Lennox Yearwood, who is doing some of the most
important work in the country connecting climate change to racism, get ninety
seconds before being cut off. There was one speaker at the 8 am pre-rally who said the word
“drones,” and that was it for any discussion of US foreign policy.
Based upon
the speeches during the main portion of today’s events there can be little
doubt that the Dr. King who was murdered in Memphis in 1968 would not have been allowed
to speak at this fiftieth-anniversary commemoration of his life. There was no
discussion of the “evil triplets.” Instead, we had far too many speakers pay
homage to the narrowest possible liberal agenda in broad abstractions with none
of the searing material truths that make Dr. King’s speeches so bracing even
today.
As
Representative Nancy Pelosi spoke, it was difficult to not think of her
defense of the NSA spying program or her vote against cutting funding to
stop the mass monitoring of phone calls.
As future
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Wall Street’s best friend, spoke at the front
of this March, it was difficult to not think of the Dr. King who said, “The
profit motive, when it is the sole basis of an economic system, encourages a
cutthroat competition and selfish ambition that inspires men to be more
concerned about making a living than making a life.”
As Attorney
General Eric Holder, the person who is not bringing federal civil
rights charges against George Zimmerman, was allotted 30 minutes—fifteen times
that of Julian Bond—to speak from the front stage, it was difficult to not
think about the fact that it has taken five years for him to say anything about
mass incarceration in this country. The late Bayard Rustin insisted, as the
lead organizer of the 1963 March on Washington , that no politicians or political
appointees be allowed to speak. Clearly, there were different principles at
work today.
Yes it was
profoundly moving to see Representative John Lewis, the only living speaker
from the 1963 March on Washington . Yes, it was right on time for the
march organizers to give the incredible Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon
Martin, time to speak - albeit far too briefly. But the closest thing to an
administration critic was 9-year-old Asean Johnson, who has been on the
front lines fighting school closures in Chicago , bringing the fire to both
President Obama’s confidante Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and the education agenda of
Arne Duncan. I love Asean Johnson, but given the problems we face, far more was
needed.
The day was
symbolized for me on multiple levels by seeing DC Park police seize 200
professionally printed placards from activists that were distributing them for
free. The placards read, “Stop Mass Incarceration. Stop the new Jim Crow.”
Police said that it was "unlawful solicitation", even though
organizers were clearly giving them away. When those having their signs seized
complained, they were threatened with fines or arrest. I heard one DC police
officer say, “Hey, you can get them back at the end of the day. On second
thought, given your attitude you cannot. “
I have
never seen free placards confiscated at a national gathering by DC police. Then
again, I’ve also never seen a demonstration so thickly monitored, with park
police, the Department of Homeland Security and the military on every corner.
Today,
those “triplets of evil” King warned us about 1967 still strangle this country.
If we are not talking about the New Jim Crow, Wall Street and militarism, then
what are we doing? King said, “If an American is concerned only about his
nation, he will not be concerned about the peoples of Asia , Africa , or South America . Is this not why nations engage in
the madness of war without the slightest sense of penitence? Is this not why
the murder of a citizen of your own nation is a crime, but the murder of
citizens of another nation in war is an act of heroic virtue?” Given US foreign policy, how can one say
that they stand in King’s legacy and not raise these issues?
I would ask
those who find this objectionable to ask themselves, “What would Dr. King/Ella
Baker/Fannie Lou Hamer/Malcolm X think about today’s march?” I don’t presume to
know the answer to that question, but I know that we only honor their memory by
asking it.
> The article above was written by socialist sports writer, Dave Zirin, and is reprinted from the Nation.
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