Been
working all day trying to come up with a word to describe how I feel,
now that The People's March honoring Dr. King and his “I have a
dream” speech is done. I've come up with several actually. However
the one that sticks out is “empty.”
It's
done, we marched, we shouted, we sang, we cried, we vented, some of
us shared our memories of the first march, many of whom, like me,
were alive, but too young to take part. Others who took part, wanted
and desperately needed to recapture the moment. We needed to feel the
energy. For whatever reason, we were compelled to be there. We needed
to believe we were making a difference, again, and that people were
listening to us, and that great things such as the 1964 Civil Rights
Act were just around the corner, maybe this time signed by a Black
President. That would truly be history and fulfillment of the dream
as well as a direct answer to those determined to resurrect Jim Crow
and nullify the rights of all minorities once again.
Instead
we were met with massive yet lackadaisical security, good in some
areas (snipers on the roof), not so good in others. None of it was
people friendly. For instance, can someone tell me the purpose of
shutting down the Martin Luther King Memorial before the march. Why?
Don't the people have the right to gaze at the people's pastor? The
people were made to stay far away, from the MLK statue and the
Lincoln Memorial for that matter, reduced to watching massive TV
screens erected to make the small figures of lesser men and women
addressing the crowd look bigger. Everything the people faced in the
park was the antithesis of what Dr. King stood for during his
lifetime. The iron gated crowd barriers enforcing a metaphorical
segregation, erected to control a population desperately hungry for
change, but not allowed by law to participate. The march itself a
hollow shadow, filled with empty symbolism. No passion, no feeling.
Some wanted to sing “We shall overcome” others, and there were
many, myself included who never want to hear that song sung again.
Many feel that “Fight the Power” is a more appropriate 21st
Century anthem. But regardless of what we sing, we ain't there yet
and it was painfully obvious on Saturday.
We
the people are at a crossroads. The giants who led us are passing on,
while those who would replace them can't measure up, being more
content to nurture their “look” rather than actually get down and
dirty into the trenches of real leadership. It's easy to talk up a
commemorative march from the bully pulpit of a cable television
network, but it's another thing altogether to walk in the shoes of
Dr. King or Reverend Shuttlesworth, or Reverend Abernathy, or Fanny
Lou Hamer or Ella Baker or Bayard Rustin or Harry Belafonte or
Charleton Heston, James Baldwin or Marlon Brando. (Denzel Washington did Emcee part of the show.)
 |
| Toure |
There
were no Kings or Queens on stage this day. Maybe that will come with
the scheduled commemoration on Wednesday with no less than four
living American Presidents in attendance. Instead of a people's
march, it will be the official commemoration. Church bells are set to
ring at 3pm, the time Dr. King began to speak so long ago and when
President is set to begin his remarks. Maybe the movie stars and
other celebrities who couldn't make it on the people's weekend will
make a charity appearance to stand with Barack Obama our first
avowed Black President.
I
just wonder if any of the people, Dr. King's people, the now grown up
little boys and little girls will be there to hear him talk.
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