Thursday, August 28, 2003

I Have a Dream QUOTE OF THE DAY "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." - - Martin Luther King Jr. KNOW YOUR HISTORY - AUGUST 28th 1963 -- Hundreds of thousands of people converge on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. for the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom", the largest political demonstration in US history up to that time. The highlight of the event was Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. RHINO HERE: Today is the 40th anniversary of the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" organized to support sweeping civil rights measures at that time. Performers at the event included Joan Baez, Odetta, Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan, Josh White & the SNCC Freedom Singers. If you've never had the pleasure of reading Doctor King's passionate, "I Have a Dream" speech, the text is posted at: http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html The "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" was organized by Bayard Rustin (1912-1987). In 1997 a biography of Rustin by Jervis Anderson was published: "Bayard Rustin: The Troubles I've Seen." The 1997 play "Civil Sex" by Brian Freeman was based on Rustin's life. Rev. Thomas Kilgore Jr. (d.1998 at 84) also helped organize the March on Washington. Martin Luther King led marches on Washington & Selma, Alabama. His chief lieutenant was Andrew Young who in 1996 wrote: "An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America." From 1961 to 1966, Doctor King wrote annual essays for The Nation magazine on the state of civil rights and race relations in America. Honor today's anniversary, The Nation has posted King's 1965 Nation essay on their website. It's entitled,"Let Justice Roll Down": Let Justice Roll Down Kucinich For President Campaign Opens National People of Color Outreach Office The office is led by Placido Salazar ( placido@kucinich.us ) & Bobbie Salazar. Placido is a Northern New Mexico native of Hispanic and First American ancestry who formerly chaired the Latino/Chicano caucus of the California Democratic Party. Bobbie is a longtime grassroots organizer. For more info contact them at: 21 Tamal Vista, Suite 175, Corte Madera CA 94925. Phone toll free at (866) DK4-2004 Amnesty International Holds National Hearings on Racial Profiling Since the 1990s, racial profiling has been at the center of a national debate in the US. After September 11, 2001, new forms of racial profiling, such as the "Special Registration" program that targeted visitors from predominantly Muslim countries for registration and interrogation, were created and put into effect. Many such programs continue despite concerns expressed by watchdog groups and lawsuits challenging the practice. To heighten attention to this issue, Amnesty International will conduct a nationwide series of racial profiling hearings starting in September. These fact-finding hearings will provide a forum for victims to share their experiences and reveal the human impact of this system-wide discriminatory practice. The hearings will also give federal and local law enforcement authorities a platform to describe strategies for taking steps to ensure that racial profiling practices are eliminated. Learn more about Amnesty International's National Hearings on Racial Profiling: Hearings on Racial Profiling The hearings are part of AI's new Campaign Against Discrimination seeking to expose & challenge discrimination & related human rights violations against members of specific social identity groups. Learn more about Amnesty International's new Campaign Against Discrimination: Campaign Against Discrimination Today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is by filmmaker ( http://www.globalvision.org/) , blogger ( http://www.mediachannel.org ) & author ("Embedded: Weapons of Mass Deception: How the Media Failed to Cover The War in Iraq") Danny Schechter . Danny was active in the civil rights & student movements from l960-66 and unlike so many from the 60's, has a great memory. 7:42:13 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Remembering Marching on Washington Marching on Washington and Moving in the Movement Remembering What It Was Like Four Decades Ago by Danny Schechter, CommonDreams.org , 8/27/03 ...Throughout the summer, we had heard about the cat and mouse game being played by the Kennedy Administration which welcomed the march publicly but tried to distance itself from it and even sabotage it. Remember the March was about jobs and economic justice too. They tried to decide who should speak and who should not. The head of the NAACP, Roy Wilkins, a mainstream moderate tried to suppress a speech by now Georgia Congressman John Lewis who intended to criticize the hypocritical policies of the Kennedy Boys who were trying to manage the civil rights revolution. John refused to be bowed. He went ahead despite tremendous pressure to moderate his militancy. The media was not very enthusiastic. Columnists like Robert Novak red-baited SNCC and Martin Luther King Jr. Many snide and disparaging comments appeared about March organizer Bayard Rustin who was known as a radical and gay to boot. The March's leader was the veteran labor leader A Phillip Randolph who I met in his Harlem office as student journalist for the Clinton News, my high school newspaper way back in l960 when the student sit ins inspired me to cross the line between journalism and activism. If you have ever been to Union Station in Washington, you can see a sculpture honoring the man who led the sleeping car porters, a vanishing breed of railway worker. It was he who insisted that the March call for JOBS and JUSTICE. He used to refer to Martin Luther King JAY R (Jr.) in style of deep voiced polished articulation. He was a man of great dignity who had led an earlier March that we forget now in l941 against Jim Crow in the US military... A GREAT ARTICLE ALL AT: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0827-09.htm "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. 6:28:04 AM    comment

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