“… MORE THAN A COMMEMORATION, IT’S A CONTINUATION.” - Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder, National Action Network
Washington D.C. - On Saturday, August 26, 2023, over 170,000 people converged on Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 1963 March on Washington, where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. The 2023 March was organized by Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder of the National Action Network, in coordination with other civil rights organizations, community activists, and churches across the country. Rev. Sharpton emphasized that the 2023 March was much more than a commemoration --- “It is a continuation of Dr. King’s dream.”
Rev. Sharpton invited Rev. Dr. Malcolm J. Byrd, Senior Pastor at Mother A.M.E. Zion Church, to address the crowd. Rev. Byrd thanked Rev. Sharpton for the opportunity and applauded him for his tireless fight for justice and equality for all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. He asked the intergenerational, interracial crowd “to make some noise” and, with his fist raised, evoked the NAN mantra: “What do we want?” The resounding response was "justice!" Rev. Byrd said it is a shame that 60 years after the 1963 march, many of the challenges in our communities remain the same. As we go back home, the challenge of racism, classism, all of the ‘isms’ and phobias imaginable still exists.” However, Rev. Byrd said, “We also come here today to be empowered to meet these challenges when we return home.”
Rev. Dr. A. Alfred Carson, a Presiding Elder in the Northeastern Episcopal District, attended the march, as did Dennis V. Proctor, Presiding Bishop of the Northeastern Episcopal District, who also addressed the crowd. Bishop Proctor said he remembered being at the 1963 March when his father, the late Rev. Emory Proctor, “was up here, and I was out at the reflection pool. It is amazing what a generation of legacy makes.” He shared a teaching moment. “The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in 1922 to an entirely segregated audience. Nothing of Lincoln’s emancipation of millions of Black people from the institution of slavery was even mentioned. The theme of that age was parades and parties. It took four years for an organization to find the value of using this structure for a place of demonstrations. That organization was the African American Episcopal Zion Church in 1926.” Bishop Proctor said, “I stand today in that legacy of freedom fighters and freedom movers Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, all bastion leaders of the A.M.E. Zion Church and today our pledge is not to let the movement die, but to continue until victory is won.”
Bro. Kermit Morris, Director of the Men’s Ministry at Mother Zion, and his daughter, Taylore Renee, arose before dawn to get on one of the 15 free buses stationed in front of the NAN headquarters on W. 145th and Lenox Avenue in Harlem. Bro. Morris said, “On that bright and sunny day, I was full of hope; the same hope I believe felt among those that arrived at the Lincoln Memorial sixty years ago.” This was his daughter Taylore’s first march. Bro. Morris said, “She was as excited as I was to be present at this event.” They listened as Andrew Young, descendants of Dr. King, veterans, sororities, fraternities, union leaders, and other dignitaries addressed their concerns so that “America would hear their voices and feel the tsunami of enthusiasm and demand for change.” Bro. Morris said, “As I looked upon my daughter, I came to the resolve that this march was not idle. It is the same energy seen sixty years ago. This experience has affirmed my thoughts that the best is yet to come.” He quoted Francis of Assisi: “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
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