Julian Bond on “I Have Dream”

The below letter was released today by NAACP chair emeritus Julian Bond, noting the role of Bayard Rustin in the famous “I Have a Dream” speech and event.

“Thousands are in Washington, D.C. today to re-create something so powerful and so vivid that it still plays on loop in my mind. They’re here for the 50th anniversary of the 1963 civil rights March on Washington.

“We are returning amidst a newly reinvigorated fight for civil rights that has grown rapidly to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.

“After all, LGBT rights are civil rights.Julian Bond Then and Now

“No parallel between movements is exact. But like race, our sexuality and gender identity aren’t preferences. They are immutable, unchangeable – and the constitution protects us all against discrimination based on immutable differences.

“Today, we are fighting for jobs, for economic opportunity, for a level playing field free of inequality and of discrimination. It’s the same fight our LGBT brothers and sisters are waging – and together we have formed a national constituency for civil rights.

‘And while we haven’t fully secured Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s most remarkable dream, we are getting closer every single day.

Julian Bond with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more recently at an HRC event.

“In August 1963, I was the Communications Director for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), led at the time by John Lewis, the march’s youngest speaker that day.

“A gay black man by the name of Bayard Rustin was one of the chief organizers – an early embodiment of the unity and commonality that bonded the movement for LGBT equality with the fight for equal treatment of African-Americans.

“In his honor, HRC will help lead a commemoration of Bayard’s incredible contributions to the civil rights movement on Monday. And it was recently announced that President Obama will posthumously award Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the highest civilian award in the United States. Continue reading “Julian Bond on “I Have Dream””

Normalcy, Never Again

imagesFew people know that Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was actually entitled “Normalcy, Never Again.”

The famous line for which the speech came to be known came as an improvisation as King was ending and Mahalia Jackson called out:  “Tell them about the dream, Martin!”

Today the 50th anniversary of the speech was celebrated at the US Capitol, as reported by the BBC as follows:

“Thousands have gathered in the US capital to mark 50 years since Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech on civil rights. Today’s civil rights activists came to Washington with concerns that include jobs, voting rights and gun violence. They marched to the Lincoln Memorial and a new monument, the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial.

“The mother of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager shot dead in Florida last year, was among those due to speak. Sabrina Fulton told the BBC many young African Americans had been left afraid by the acquittal of his killer, neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. She called for a change to laws in many American states which allow the use of deadly force if a person feels seriously threatened. Mr Zimmerman’s acquittal sparked protests in more than 100 cities. Eric Holder, the first black attorney general in US history, paid tribute to the original protesters, in a speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

“They marched in spite of animosity, oppression and brutality because they believed in the greatness of what this nation could become and despaired of the founding promises not kept,” he said.He said the spirit of 1963 now demanded equality for gay people, Latinos, women, the disabled and others. Saturday’s event is being led by the Rev Al Sharpton and King’s son Martin Luther King III. It comes a few days before the actual anniversary of the original march on 28 August 1963. King, who was assassinated in 1968, led about 250,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall and delivered his famous speech from its steps. Continue reading “Normalcy, Never Again”