WASHINGTON — President Obama stepped into the space on Wednesday where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once stood, summoning his iconic dream of a colorblind society in a celebration of a half-century of progress and a call to arms for the next generation. On a day of overcast skies and misty rain, tens of thousands of Americans — black, white and every shade in between — returned to the site of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech to listen to the nation’s first black president pay tribute to the pioneers who paved the way for his own ascension to the heights of American government. “Because they kept marching, America changed,” the president said as Dr. King’s family watched. “Because they marched, a civil rights law was passed. Because they marched, a voting rights law was signed. Because they marched, doors of opportunity and education swung open so their daughters and sons could finally imagine a life for themselves beyond washing somebody else’s laundry or shining somebody else’s shoes. “Because they marched,” he added, “city councils changed and state legislatures changed and Congress changed and, yes, eventually, the White House changed.” The symbolic journey from Dr. King to Mr. Obama on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial animated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom more than any oratory. While Mr. Obama’s line about the White House changing was his only reference to his unique place in history, the power of his presence was lost on no one. But it also underscored the challenge to a movement to reframe its mission for a new era. With an African-American in the Oval Office, it is harder to argue about political empowerment than it was in 1963, and much of the day’s message centered on tackling persistent economic disparity, as well as newer frontiers of civil rights like equality for gay men and lesbians. Several of the speakers, including former President Jimmy Carter, tied the historic nature of the event to controversies of the moment, including the Trayvon Martin case, New York’s police frisking policy and the Supreme Court ruling this summer that overturned part of the Voting Rights Act. “I think we know how Dr. King would have reacted,” Mr. Carter said. Yet former President Bill Clinton said that for all of the current challenges, Americans have never had more opportunity to shape the future if they can put aside their differences. “It is time to stop complaining and put our shoulders against the stubborn gates holding the American people back,” he said. The three presidents effectively reflected three eras in the civil rights movement: Mr. Carter, the white Southerner who appointed more African-Americans to high-ranking positions than did any of his predecessors; Mr. Clinton, who was so attuned to race issues that he was called the country’s first black president; and Mr. Obama, who really is the first and who represents the generation that came of age after the battles of the past. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who may seek to be the next president, did not attend, and aides declined to explain why. But on hand were Caroline Kennedy and Lynda Johnson Robb, daughters of the two presidents most associated with civil rights, as well as a phalanx of celebrities, like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Russell, Jamie Foxx and Forest Whitaker. Some lions of the civil rights era were there, including Representative John Lewis, former Ambassador Andrew Young and the Rev. Joseph Lowery — grayer, thicker, slower, but stirring emotions of their youth. “We ain’t going back,” Dr. Lowery declared. “We ain’t going back. We’ve come too far, marched too long, prayed too hard, wept too bitterly, bled too profusely and died too young to let anybody turn back the clock on our journey to justice.” Many members of Dr. King’s family participated as well, including his 85-year-old sister, Christine King Farris. The Rev. Bernice King, his daughter, noted that women were largely missing from the speakers list in 1963, but they were a significant presence 50 years later. She delivered a rousing call to “let freedom ring” before the ringing of a bell saved from the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., where a bombing by the Ku Klux Klan killed four girls just weeks after Dr. King’s speech.
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 12:13:25 +0000
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