Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, writes at the Huffington Post that recent acts of voter suppression in Texas and South Carolina, the Supreme Court's gutting of the Voting Rights Act and George Zimmerman's acquittal are just a few pressing reasons for a sequel to the historic March on Washington. The events have finally forced the nation to have "a serious conversation about racial profiling for the first time since 9/11," he writes.
Remember the March on Washington? August 28, 1963. Tens of thousands of activists on the National Mall. A preacher's son from Atlanta talking about his dream for the country.
We don't need a history lesson. Even if we weren't at the March itself — even for those like me, who were not yet born — Dr. King's words are etched into our minds as deeply as they are inscribed in stone at the base of his memorial. The preacher's son has taken his rightful place in the pantheon of national heroes.
We don't need to watch a rerun of that fateful day. We need a sequel.
On Saturday, August 24th, the NAACP is co-hosting a sequel to the March on Washington for Jobs and Justice: the 2013 March on Washington. The march begins at 8:00 am, at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Join us.
If this year has shown us anything, it's that the work of the 1963 march is not yet finished. Texas and South Carolina are sprinting forward with voter ID after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. African American unemployment has flat lined. Our children are gunned down each and every day in senseless acts of violence. Trayvon Martin lies in the ground after one such senseless act.
Read Benjamin Todd Jealous' entire piece at the Huffington Post.
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