Aug. 28, 2013
Vol. 2 Issue 89
KING’S
DREAM The 50th Anniversary of one of the nation’s most famous speeches
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Story by MC2(SW) Jason Behnke
Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. - KING
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F
IFTY YEARS AGO TODAY, more than 250,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for one of the largest rallies for human rights in American history. The “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” featured several prominent religious leaders, labor leaders, singers and activists. The goals of the organizers included getting the passage of meaningful civil rights legislation, immediate elimination of school segregation, a $2-an-hour minimum wage and real enforcement of the 14th Amendment. In the years following 1963 several pieces of legislation were passed, which many consider were sped along due to the March. Others, like human rights activist Continued on page 4
Sailor of the Day
Story and photo by MCSN Kole Carpenter
A
irman Fabiola Salazaralaya, assigned to Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 117, from Cleburne, Texas, was named Sailor of the Day May 10. As plane captain, she played a pivotal role in the launch and recovery of four mission-capable aircraft directly contributing to more than 400 sorties and 1,450 flight hours at a 99 percent mission completion rate during the Carrier Strike Group 11 workup cycle and Operation Enduring Freedom 2013 deployment. “It’s shocking. I didn’t expect it,” Salazaralaya said. “It feels rewarding to be recognized, and it’s Commanding Officer Capt. Jeff Ruth
pretty awesome to wear the badge.” As the Line Division training petty officer, she was directly responsible for the training and documentation of new squadron Sailors. She personally qualified six oil consumption technicians and five fuel surveillance technicians. Furthermore, she has contributed 284 out-of-shop maintenance man-hours increasing squadron productivity and enabling seasoned troubleshooters to focus on more complex tasks. To her shipmates gunning to wear the badge themselves, she says simply, “keep doing what you’re doing. Work hard, and keep a positive attitude.”
Executive Officer Cmdr. John Cummings
Editor MC2 (SW) Jason Behnke
Command Master Chief CMDCM Teri McIntyre
Public Affairs Officer Lt. Cmdr. Karin Burzynski
Lead Designer MC3 (SW) George J. Penney III
Nimitz News accepts submissions in writing. All submissions are subject to review and screening. ”Nimitz News” is an authorized publication for the members of the military services and their families. Its content does not necessarily reflect the official views of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Navy, or the Marine Corps and does not imply endorsement thereby.
Man on the Street
WHAT
DID MARTIN LUTHER KING JR’s SPEECH MEAN TO YOU?
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CS2 Damieon Colvin
It’s crazy that everything said in the past about change has been seen before our eyes and we can look back on the speech, which wasn’t just about race, but American culture in general; such as the barrier between men and women, black and white, and heterosexual and homosexual. All of these things about having a dream, it was a great thing.
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OS3 Jennifer Cloud
I think the movement effected society a lot. I think, as a leader he had an impact and a lot of people still today look up to him.
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Lance Cpl. Samone Staton
I think that it paved the way for a lot of different ethnicities. It’s not just about race but people of different backgrounds and lifestyles.
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Cmdr. Lance Harpel
It had a profound impact on people taking action for a situation that existed for a very long time. It became a method for people to voice their support and then take action to correct society.
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Martin Luther King Jr. speaks at the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Continued from page 1 Malcolm X, would criticize the March calling it “a picnic” and “a circus”. Whatever the case may be, few would deny the highlight of the event came when Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and gave one of the most celebrated speeches in American history. “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation,” King said as he began to address the gathered masses. “This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.” When King spoke these words in 1963, he
addressed the fact that President Lincoln’s words seemed to have fallen on deaf ears in many areas of the United States. While Lincoln stated 100 years earlier that the U.S. Government will consider any states allowing slavery being in “rebellion against the United States,” and that they “will do no act or acts to repress such persons,” many states in the South still enforced Jim Crow laws. For this very reason, the civil rights movement was in full swing in 1963. The citizens who marched on Washington made it very clear to the millions watching on their television sets and listening on their radios that, as King went on to say in his speech, they had come to “cash a check” that was promised to them from the very beginning of the nation’s history. King also ensured the world that “There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” What King said next is what drew much of the criticism from other activists. While some would have liked the civil rights movement to more loudly (and perhaps violently) show the anger of African American people, King said “Let us not seek
Men and women board a bus bound for the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” He preached that the way to freedom and equality would be won through non-violence. Many also disagreed with King’s message of the need to work side-by-side with white people, as they felt no need to make peace with the people who oppressed them for so many years. But King reasoned that “many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.” As King came to the end of the words written on the paper in front of him, a shout came from gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who had performed earlier in the event. “Tell ‘em about the dream, Martin,” she yelled. According to Clarence Jones, the man who had helped write much of the original speech, “Everything thereafter was spontaneous. That was the ‘I have a dream’ speech.” As King pushed the speech to the side, he began to speak the phrases that still resonate with so many. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood,” King said. “I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” Although no one can know for sure how much the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” helped to accelerate the ‘Civil Rights Act of 1964’ or the ‘Voting Rights Act of 1965’, it certainly had an impact on the people who witnessed it. It also showed that a quarter of a million people can gather peacefully. Undoubtedly, many of the news cameras in D.C. that day were standing by to capture more than the scenes of peaceful protest. Many thought that violence was inevitable, but the violence never came.
Men and women 100take part in the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” rally.
It also proved that an impassioned people, who want nothing more than what is rightfully theirs, can accomplish anything. And although the country didn’t completely change on August 28, 1963, and there were still many battles ahead, King’s dream was made known to the world. The dream for his four children and for the rest of “God’s children” to fulfill Lincoln’s words “that all men are created equal.” “And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”
A young girl looks on during the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
THROUGHTHELE
By MC3 Chris Bartlett
ABE3 Lorianne Davis, left, and Lt. Eric Ryziw stand watch on the flight deck as an F/A-18E Super Hornet prepares to land.
ADAN Lauren Houk conducts daily inspections on an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter in the hangar bay.
HM1 Elizabeth Anderson, left, hands popcorn to a Sailor for movie night in the hangar bay.
By MCSA Kelly M. Agee
By MC3 Raul Moreno Jr.
A Sailor holds up a weight board as an F/A-18E Super Hornet prepares to launch from the flight deck .
By MC3 Raul Moreno Jr.
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ON THE COVER: Martin Luther King Jr. waves to the crowd during a speech at the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” rally.