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'We have to keep on marching': Local activists plan as anniversary of historic march approaches
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In August 1963, more than a quarter-million people marched on Washington, D.C., to demand fair wages, civil rights protections, voting rights and an end to segregation.
The march, which culminated in Martin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 legendary 鈥淚 Have a Dream鈥� speech, was followed about a year later by President Lyndon Johnson鈥檚 signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and over a year after that, the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
But almost 60 years later, sa国际传媒官网网页入口 family members of some of the original activists at that march say the work still isn鈥檛 done.
鈥淢y brother and my father were both civil rights activists, and they鈥檙e both dead. So I鈥檓 carrying on, and I wanted this march because it鈥檚 my way of showing solidarity,鈥� said Chaia Ross, whose brother was a part of the 1963 march, and who spearheaded planning for a local march at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26, at .
Though it is near the anniversary of the original 1963 march, organizers said the event in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, which is timed with a broader, national march again on Washington isn鈥檛 meant as a commemoration of the march 60 years ago but rather a continuation of it.
鈥淭hings are not the way they should be, or where they should be. And so we have to keep on marching,鈥� NAACP sa国际传媒官网网页入口 President Harold Bailey said.
The blow struck to affirmative action in college admissions earlier this year and voter suppression in other parts of the country are among issues Bailey and other event organizers said are at the root of Saturday鈥檚 march.
But although organizers don鈥檛 know yet how many people will turn out to the march 鈥� they hope at least 200 鈥� Charles Powell, another organizer and member of the local chapter of the NAACP, said it鈥檚 nevertheless about rallying support within sa国际传媒官网网页入口 to carry on the fight.
鈥淚 think it鈥檒l be reassuring to the Black community that 鈥� New Mexico does care, so that people will come out of it confident that we have support here,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he job isn鈥檛 complete. We have to continue working, and so I hope people are encouraged to continue to work.鈥�
