A Dream For The Ages

Return To The Scene Of The Dream

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC

August 28, 2013

Thank you for tuning in for this special tag-team report on the 50th anniversary of the August 1963 march on Washington. I will start things off myself and then turn things over to I. Mangrey for his take on where we are now.

Fifty Years Ago

by Ed Venture

Fifty years ago, in our nation’s capital, at the foot of the statue memorializing Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. told all Americans that he Had A Dream. He spoke truth to all willing to hear, in a nation full of fear and hatred, full of arrogance, violence and bigotry. In one of the great speeches of all time Dr. King courageously shared his dream of uniting this nation for the good of us all.  Two days after his game-changing speech the FBI labeled King, “the most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security.” J. Edgar Hoover subsequently pressured Attorney General, Robert Kennedy to authorize a comprehensive wiretap on King as Hoover sought to silence Martin Luther King, Jr.

His words lit a fuse that unfortunately still burns since many, fewer than on that day, but too many still, refuse to accept the reality that we are all in this together. That we should not be judged by the color of our skin, the god we pray to or the gender of the person with whom we share a life. They continue to walk among us like the zombies they are – lifeless, soulless, thoughtless and with nothing better to do than to suck the life out of the rest of us for their own hollow survival. Their numbers are dwindling, but their voices remain loud and continue to damage our ears. And our lives. They have their own cable network, and countless radio bigmouths and most of the guns. But they will not succeed. They will wither and die as they lose their impact. I wish them Godspeed.

The March for Peace and Freedom on August 28, 1963 brought together blacks and whites, middle-class and poor to lend support for desegregation and equality. And of course, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his, then feared and reviled, now historic, moving and hopeful plea for sanity "I Have a Dream" speech.

The March for Peace and Freedom also had ten demands:

    1. Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress -  without compromise or fillibuster - to guarantee all Americans:
              Access to all public accommodations
              Decent housing
              Adequate and integrated education
              The right to vote
 2.Withholding of Federal funds from all programs in which discrimination exists.
 3. Desegregation of all school districts in 1963.
 4. Enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment - reducing Congressional representation of states where citizens are disfranchised.
 5. A new Executive Order banning discrimination in all housing supported by federal funds.
 6. Authority for the Attorney General to institute injunctive suits when any Constitutional right is violated.
 7. A massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers - Negro and white - on meaningful and dignified jobs at decent wages.
 8. A national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living. (Government surveys show that anything less than $2.00 an hour fails to do this.)
 [The minimum wage at the time of the march is $1.15/hour.]
 9. A broadened Fair Labor Standards Act to include all areas of employment which are presently excluded.
10. A federal Fair Employment Practices Act barring discrimination by federal, state, and municipal governments, and by employers, contractors, employment agencies, and trade unions.

Many of these demands were at least addressed thanks to the courage and dedication of many, including President Lyndon Johnson, who knew that this would cause great political damage to the Democratic Party, which at the time was heavily populated by horrid Southern racists. These ne'er-do-wells ultimately bolted from their party, to become the Republican Party that we see before us today. So when the modern-day Republicans try to convince us that they are the party of Lincoln, we will not be fooled. 

That Was Then, This Is Now

 by I. Mangrey

Fortunately Dr. King is not around to see the appropriation of his stirring words delivered on August 28, 1963 by people like Bill O’Reilly, one of the whitest, most ignorant fear-mongers, and Sarah Palin, who defies all description and who needs an entire new lexicon of adjectives to describe the depths of her idiocy, and Larry Ward (whoever the hell he is), Chairman of Gun Appreciation Day (January 19, 2013) who said that Gun Appreciation Day, whatever the hell that is, “honors the legacy of Dr. King. The truth is I think Dr. King would agree with me if he were alive today.” This loser wouldn't know the truth about Dr. King if it shot him in the face.

Here's a little of what happened on Gun Appreciation Day:

The Raleigh News & Observer reported that three people were shot when a loaded shotgun accidentally discharged at the Dixie Gun and Knife Show at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that one man was left wounded after an accidental shooting at the Medina Gun Show in Medina, Ohio.

The Indianapolis Star reported a man was injured as he was leaving the 1500 Gun & Knife Show at the Indiana State Fairgrounds when his gun accidentally discharged.

UPI reported a Dallas man was arrested when a gun discharged in his pocket while he was shopping at Walmart, injuring two other people.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported a six-year-old girl shot herself in the face while handling her father's gun.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported a 14-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his 15-year-old brother with his mother's handgun.

A Google search yielded dozens of similar stories.

Gun enthusiasts rightfully note that these were accidents and that many people are also killed in car accidents every single day. Let that be a lesson to all you drivers out there - guns don't kill people, cars kill people.

It almost seems like every day brings an angry mob yelling and screaming for liberty or something - the Tea Party. They will not be silenced…apparently. They will march for freedom and the right to accidentally (or otherwise) shoot themselves and others in order to protect and preserve the sacred Second Amendment. The Second Amendment was designed to protect a new nation that had no army and nothing but slow-to-reload and difficult-to-aim muskets over two hundred years ago. What I want to know is, who will protect us from the Second Amendment?

So what do the O’Reillys, Palins, Pauls, Cantors, Boehners, Ryans and Limbaughs want? What ten things are they screaming for?

1. More guns with less oversight. As many mass shootings as it takes to ensure our right to bear arms. Attack Syria. Don’t attack Syria.

2. No healthcare for anyone who can’t afford it in order to maximize corporate profit. People need to just fend for themselves, the way God and Libertarians intended.

3. No minimum wage for anyone, ever in order to maximize corporate profit. If you don't like your job just go get another one.

4. Lower taxes on the rich, more taxes on the poor

5. Fewer voting rights for the poor, the elderly, students, Blacks, Latinos and more voting rights for corporations

6. Involuntary, invasive procedures on pregnant women

7. Drill baby drill. Stop renewable energy before it lowers your utility bill and saves the planet. Stop protecting the environment, the environment should be able to fend for itself like the rest of us.

8. Privatize education in order to keep it out of the hands of the poor, Blacks and Latinos. Fewer schools, more jails...privately owned jails that is, in order to maximize corporate profit.

9. Stop the gays before they multiply.

10. No taxes on corporations. You know why.

Bill O’Reilly wondered why there were no Republican’ts at this “segregated” march. He was simply livid that no Republican'ts were invited to this unholy gathering. As it turns out some of the invitees were George HW Bush, George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, Eric Cantor and John Boehner - all of whom declined for one reason or another. George HW was unwell, his son said he didn't know where the Lincoln Memorial was and was unable to leave the bathroom until he finished his latest painting entitled "George on John." Eric Cantor was busy kissing oil executive butt and the others were just too busy. The only currently-serving black senator, Tim Scott (Republican’ts-token-appointee-R-SC) also declined to attend the 50th anniversary celebration of King’s I Have a Dream speech. Just because.

Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we’re free at last. Keep on marching, keep on marching, marching to the freedom land.

Meanwhile Barack Obama is deciding whether or not to send his Nobel Peace Prize over to Syria…on the head of a missile.

Peace out.

I. Mangrey and Ed Venture