A dropbox of photos also – https://www.dropbox.com/sc/ovmhpoq262czrtz/dt5DhvJTcc
By Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law
My late father went to the March on Washington in 1963 and did not allow my sister or me to go for fear of violence. With my son and daughter, we went to the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington.
It was a beautiful day full of peace and love, with people singing songs and carrying signs, united, seeking racial and social justice.
I was particularly struck by the speech of Martin Luther King III, strong in his own way.
Rev. Al Sharpton reminded us that no matter how well we are doing we owe a debt to the civil rights movement. To loud applause, he reminded us that the civil rights movement made it possible that our stellar resumes would be read.
American concerns were highlighted by speakers, marchers, on posters, t-shirts, and songs. Rev. Joseph Lowery, at 91, put it best that we were there to commemorate and to go back home to agitate.
Trayvon Martin weighed on us, as did the deaths of others. His parents and the relatives of Emmitt Till stood there at one point, bringing in all those souls lost over 400 years to be with us.
Voting Rights, Jobs, Freedom, Labor, African-Americans, LGBT’s, Women, Arab-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, law students, educators, lawyers, organizations like the NAACP, the National Action Network, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Organization for Women and the National Urban League, LULAC – every conceivable social justice movement in the United States was there.
SALT was represented by many members.
It was a glimpse, to be kept in the mind’s eye and heart, of the beauty of coming together to help the least of us progress and thereby help humanity progress.