Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 9-2-22

'I Have A Dream:' March On Washington Was 59 Years Ago Last Sunday
All the regularly scheduled flights to the nation's capitol were packed. So were the trains and buses.
More than 2,000 chartered buses, 21 char- tered trains and 10 char- tered flights from across the country came into town. No one knows how many cars crowded the city, coming from as far away as California.
The crowd that gath- ered 59 years ago Sunday was estimated at be- tween 200,000 and 300,000. Most were black, though all races were represented. There were rich and poor, working class and mil- lionaires, movie stars and ministers and every- thing in between.
They came to the Na- tional Mall for what was billed as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Today, we mostly remember it as simply the March on Washington.
It was August 28, 1963. The day was hot and ten- sions were high. No one knew what to expect. Nearly 6,000 Washing- ton police were on duty in addition to 6,000 troops from the U. S. Army and National Guard. Liquor sales were banned throughout the city as a precaution.
Even the organizers of the march were not sure what would happen. The planning had not been easy and there were plenty of disagreements among those in charge. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was convinced the whole thing was a communist plot, as were many Southern lawmak- ers. There had been death threats and bomb threats.
Then the big day came. And it was magic.
The huge crowd marched peacefully from
March On Washington, 1963
the Washington Monu- ment to the Lincoln Me- morial, where a podium had been readied for speakers.
Civil rights leaders spoke. A. Philip Ran- dolph, chief organizer of the march. Roy Wilkins of the NAACP. John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Whitney Young, Jr. of the Urban League. Floyd McKissick of the Congress of Racial Equality.
Labor leader Walter Reuther gave a speech. Religious leaders prayed. Marian Ander- son sang "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" and Mahalia Jackson sang "How I Got Over." Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Odetta and Peter, Paul and Mary were also part of the program.
But what most people remember today about the march are remarks by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King -- the "I Have a Dream" speech.
Carried live by all three television net- works, millions of Amer- icans heard Dr. King speak that night. His words made history.
"And so even though
we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
"This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with."
The March on Wash- ington was a turning point for our nation. In its wake would come sweeping civil rights leg- islation. But there would still be many battles ahead over equality for Black people. Just a cou- ple of weeks after the march four young girls would die in a church bombing in Birming- ham, Ala. Just a few months later three civil rights workers would be murdered in Mississippi.
Dr. King would be as- sassinated less than five years after giving his speech that day nearly six decades ago. But the legacy of the Dreamer and the March on Wash- ington will live forever. The Texarkana Gazette.
$500 Billion Used To Pay Student Loan Debt
Better Than $750B Corporate Giveaway
Kudos to President Joe Biden on giving relief to citizens burdened by student debt. True to the GOP culture, Re- publicans are criticizing and complaining about Presi- dent Biden’s promise to cancel $10,000 to $20,000 of student debt for low to middle-income borrowers. Scholarships and grants do not cover the total cost of a four-year public or private school education. In fact, the cu-
mulative federal loan debt, $1.6 trillion and rising, is due to the rising costs of education by colleges and universities.
Keep in mind the student loan debt relief only pays $20,000 of PELL Grant student debt, and up to $10,000 for non-PELL Grant debt, which usually averages between $28,400 to $64,000. If a borrower earns more than $125,000 annually (250,000 for married couples), they will not be eligible for the loan relief.
Depending upon the student’s career or school choice and length of training, a student loan debt could reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. We understand outside estimates of the costs of the student loan forgiveness program range from $300 billion to $500 billion. Pell Grant recipients are more likely to be people of color – Black and Hispanic.
For the 2015-2016 academic year, 32% of the students who received grants were white, 58% were Black students, and 47% were Hispanic and Latino. It is important to note that the opportunity of education assistance was open to practically everyone who applied.
Therefore, if you chose not to pursue a college education, don’t be a “hater” of those who chose an education. And don’t begrudge President Biden’s plan to provide assistance to those who struggle to pay their student loans and maintain a family life.
We don’t remember the GOP complaining when they gave corporations a $750 billion tax cut in 2017 or when we gave Ukraine more than $40 billion in 2021.
It is time America’s taxpayers receive assistance with their struggle to survive since they pay taxes equal to 48% of the U. S. Treasury Department’s budget while 55 corpora- tions paid no taxes on $40 billion in profits and received $3.9 billion in rebates.
We applaud President Biden for keeping another one of his promises.
Editorial March On Washington
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