We Shall Overcome

"Today is the 57th anniversary of a terrific event and a beautiful speech made by a great man."

That's what DJTrump didn't say about the Commitment "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" March on Friday. In fact he said nothing.

On August 28, 1963, some 250,000 people gathered on the National Mall in what was called The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. I'm sure a great many people remember where they were that Wednesday.

Although the march was a protest action the spirit of the day was one of celebration, brotherhood, and aspiration. Speakers included a bevy of Christian and Jewish clergy and most of the leaders of major civil rights organizations.

The stream of speakers was punctuated with music by the likes of Marian Anderson, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Mahalia Jackson. It was at this gathering that "We Shall Overcome" became the civil rights anthem it remains.

And it was where The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr told us about his dream. The "I Have a Dream" speech was inspired. Partially improvised, it speaks of visions Dr. King had for an integrated and free future. It was one of the great addresses of the 20th century, and Dr. King is still held up as one of the century's greatest orators.

Yesterday's rally had much of the same spirit, now carried by a generation new to civil strife, but no less energized to meet it. Dr. King's son, Martin Luther King III spoke. He is an effective speaker, and reinforced the battle cry of the march: "There’s a knee upon the neck of democracy and our nation can only live so long without the oxygen of freedom. . . . The simple challenge before us is that everyone can cast a ballot and everyone who can must cast a ballot."¹

But it was clear that Dr. King's mantle of Chief Orator of the new civil rights movement has fallen squarely on The Rev. Al Sharpton. He has a commanding voice and the intensity and classical cadence of generations of preachers before him: "We need Mitch McConnell and the U.S. Senate to meet on the George Floyd Policing and Justice Act or we’re going to meet you Senators at the polls November 3rd. Whether we’ve got to mail in, walk in, ride in, crawl in, we want our bill passed." And, "It’s time we have a conversation with America. We need to have a conversation about your racism, about your bigotry, about your hate, about how you would put your knee on our neck while we cry out for our lives. We need a new conversation. . . .You act like it’s no trouble to shoot us in the back. You act like it’s no trouble to put a chokehold on us while we scream, 'I can’t breathe' 11 times. You act like it’s no trouble to hold a man down on the ground until you squeeze the life out of him. It’s time for a new conversation."²

His is the voice that will gain followers and grab the attention of the disinterested and disenfranchised. He will need to use it wisely to speak truth to all things Trump and to raise the spirit of revolution in the American people.

Our voices will rise again, and We Shall Overcome.


--- Diogenes,  8/29/2020



¹ https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/2020-march-on-washington-event-transcript  (Begins about 26 minutes in)
² https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/al-sharpton-speech-transcript-2020-march-on-washington 
* Videos of the event are available on YouTube, MSNBC, and CBS, among others.