Commemorating 52nd Anniversary of the March on Washington

By Clarence B. Jones, the Huffington Post

During the past two weeks two great persons in the struggle against injustice, both of whom I knew, passed away. First was Julian Bond at the age of 75, the other was Louis Stokes, a 15-term former congressman from OH. He died at the age of 90.

The death of these two social justice and political warriors were on my mind as I realized that this week marks the 52nd anniversary of the August 28th, 1963 March On Washington For Jobs and Freedom. (Most persons associate their memory of The March with the soaring oratory of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech.)…

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. giving his I Have a Dream speech to huge crowd gathered for the Mall in Washington DC during the March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom (aka the Freedom March) on August 28, 1963.

In thinking about Julian Bond and Louis Stokes I reflected on how much has happened in our nation during their lives, including, but not limited to The March On Washington. This, in turn, caused me to remember many other things…

For example, I remember, the morning of the March, speaking with Harry Belafonte. He had asked me to meet the “Celebrity Delegation” to the March who were arriving that morning by private chartered plane from CA. Harry “charged” me with the responsibility of meeting Charlton Heston, “head” of the “Delegation” and leading him and other to their designated seats on the March platform. Space consideration limits my written recital, of all of the names of those prominent motion picture, TV, and performing artist stars that comprised the “Celebrity” delegation…

In honor of Julian Bond, Congressman Louis Stokes, and so many, many, known and unknown heroes and heroines of the Civil Rights Movement, and in tribute to the younger successor generation of The Black Lives Matter Movement, we must find a way to stop, once and for all, this systemic assault by local police on Black and other people of color.

It is not an overstatement to remind the current generation in our country that Dr. King, and so many, many others, “marched” so that that it would not be necessary 52 years later for our children and grandchildren to march to tell our nation TODAY, that “Black Lives Matter.”…

If not now, when? If not us, who?

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