The March on Washington BY GENE CASH
The following text has been adapted from a talk given on February 26, 2012.
1963,
IT WAS LIKE ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS BY DICKENS. IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES. IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES. THE BEST OF TIMES: THE UNITED STATES HAD A CATHOLIC PRESIDENT.
THE WORST OF TIMES: THE CATHOLIC PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WAS KILLED. THE WORST OF TIMES: FOUR LITTLE GIRLS WERE KILLED AT CHURCH AND WHAT MADE ME GO TO THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON? I grew up in Philadelphia. My grandparents and my father are from the South. My mother was born in Cuba. In those times, growing up in Philadelphia, I did not see discrimination. However, when I went to visit my grandparents, there were only certain places where I could use the restroom. I couldn’t eat in restaurants—I had to eat on the bus. When I went downtown, there were only certain drinking fountains I could drink from. As a senior in high school I joined the organization called CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). They had planned on taking the train to Washington DC for the March on Washington. There was a great deal of planning. I went to meetings for weeks. We talked about logistics: What about water? The hot weather? Would the movement be ruined if there was any type of violence? And a big march was being planned. In the 1940s, Philip Randolph planned a big march in DC, but it never took off. There were all types of marches. In the United States around that time there were a thousand different cities that had small marches. By the end of 1963, approximately 20,000 people had been arrested. Most of those who had been arrested were middle school students. The number of high-school students arrested was higher than adults. Before the March on Washington Martin Luther King visited India in 1959. And of course, being a minister, Jesus was
Philip Randolph and other civil rights leaders on their way to Congress during the March on Washington, 1963, Trikosko, Marion S., photographer, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
his number one prophet, but he picked up a lot from Gandhi. Gandhi’s philosophy, like that of Jesus, was non-violence. When King came back to the United States in March 1959, he was disappointed because many Protestant ministers and Catholic priests were not behind him before the March. When Dr. King was put in jail he wrote letters to the priests. He wrote letters to the Protestant ministers asking for help. Dr. King got out of jail 1 in Spring 1963—that summer was the March. Dr. King’s ideas of anti-violence began to trickle down to Catholic bishops. The bishops started talking about how segregation and discrimination went against the human dignity of the person, and was not to be allowed in the Catholic Church. On the day of the March on Washington, the Archbishop of Washington D.C., the Most Rev. Patrick O’Boyle, gave the invocation before Dr. King gave his “I have a dream” speech. When we got off the train on Wednesday, August 28, 1963, the day of the March, I had never seen so many people in my life. There were thousands of people of all colors. There were also many, many speakers there, not just Dr. King. There are two speeches every American probably knows: the Gettysburg Address—“four score and seven years ago” and the “I have a dream” speech. It was hot, but when Dr. King gave his speech, you had chills as you sat there. And it was celebration! But, it should have been a celebration for everyone with action—next steps. That’s why he talked about poverty and, of course, called for equality in all schools, for equal access to facilities, for fair 1
Author is referring to King imprisoned and writing “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” A M AT T E R O F S P I R IT
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wages—all the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. At the time, people did not think the March was as big as deal as it was. On the way back from the March, we were asking, “What could we do next?” People began planning what they could do next in their communities at the March on Washington. We wanted segregation to end. The next year, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed and two years later, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those bills passed as a result of pressure that was built from the March. At the March people would ask Dr. King what they should do and he would ask people, “What do YOU want? Do you want safe schools? Good schools? To get a good job? To have a decent wage? To drink and eat where you want?” He would ask people to consider, “What are you doing now and what are the next steps you are going to take?” Celebration and action. Gene Cash served in the Army Reserves for 30 years. He serves on the community board of the Sammamish YMCA, works with Team Issachar Seattle (which serves young African American males), is a former Just Faith facilitator and is an active member of Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Sammamish, WA.
Demonstrators marching in the street holding signs during the March on Washington, 1963, Trikosko, Marion S., photographer Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
The Nonexistent “ in K-12 BY DR. JESSICA HERNANDEZ
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n today’s society, we continue to center the feelings of those who hold power and privilege in the current societal racial hierarchies. We are all aware that race is a social construct, meaning we did not naturally inherit it as a species, but rather it was created to place certain people in social systems of power and privilege over others. However, due to the recent uprising in the anti-racism movement that millennials 1 and “zoomers” of color are leading—a movement built from the previous generation’s work during the Civil Rights era—there is more discussion about breaking the naivety and innocence bubble that has been created in educational systems to cater to and comfort whiteness. These naive and innocent bubbles were created to sugarcoat the true histories of how the United States was founded. They were created to hide the violent atrocities settlers committed against Black and Indigenous peoples, many of whom white individuals are descendants. The United States was founded on the genocide of Indigenous people and the enslavement of Black individuals. These founding stories are too harsh for the average white person to consume—as many of them had ancestors who proudly participated in these atrocities—all to be declared the people in power in these societal racial hierarchies. However, if we truly want to heal this nation, the true histories that for so long have been hidden behind fairy tales need to be discussed and taught in classrooms across the United States. Learning the true history of this country starts in schools; from the K-12 education system to higher education. Oftentimes, we hear that the reason why these histories should not be taught is because it teaches white children that they are “inherently bad.” In a recent discussion that took place on the talk show The View, Condoleezza Rice (former United States Secretary of State) mentioned that in order to make Black children understand their empowerment, white children do not need to be made to feel bad for being white. Empowerment of children of color is crucial; however, naivety is something they are not immune to. This is due to the racism that continues to persist in this country—something the anti-racism movement is attempting to dismantle. While white children’s feelings are protected, the feelings of children of color are not. Children of color inherited a system that teaches them they are “bad” by being mistreated for the color of their skin or facing harsher forms of discipline, even within classrooms. We have seen 1
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W I N T E R 2 0 2 2 • N O. 13 3
“Zoomers” refers to Gen Z