Matura Englisch - schriftlich - 2004 - ORG Komensky

Looking back 40 years, the March on Washington for Justice and Jobs stands out as a moment of
improbable calm in a long summer of fear.
A coalition of civil rights groups organised the event, against the advice of liberal white politicians, to
force the pace of civil rights legislation that was being held up by opponents in Congress.
Just before the march, black schoolchildren were attacked with dogs and firehoses in Alabama. That
summer, civil rights activists were clubbed in Danville, Virginia, and jailed in Albany, Georgia. In
Jackson, Mississippi, black students were assaulted when they sat at a segregated lunch counter in
Woolworth's. As marchers converged on Washington in 1963, the capital was braced for the worst.
The National Guard was placed on alert and major league baseball cancelled.
Bars and off-licences were closed and a declaration of martial law was prepared. Yet the march was
peaceful.
A few weeks earlier, President John F Kennedy had tried to head off demonstrations, warning civil
rights leaders that a march might jeopardise civil rights legislation in Congress. "Mr President, the
Negro people are already in the streets," he was told.
Dr King's own speech was angrier and more urgent than many recall today. "This is no time to engage
in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquillising drug of gradualism," he told marchers before
offering white liberals, like JFK, a blunt warning.
"It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the
determination of the Negro.
"Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude
awakening."
With the help of Dr King and other black leaders, JFK was "educated and sensitised" to the realities
of racism, Mr Lewis said.
Nowadays, racism is no longer "polite", he added. But to know it still exists, he needs only try hailing
a cab when not wearing a suit.
His words were echoed by today's students, sitting on the lawns of Howard University, a "historically
black college" in Washington.
From the outside, Howard University looks like voluntary segregation, a rejection of the outside
world. Brandon Childs, a 21-year-old from Kentucky, described the campus, where the overwhelming
majority of students are black, as a liberation from race.
"You have the luxury of feeling race is not the dominant thought in everyone's minds, the opportunity
to define yourself for yourself."
Mr Lewis finds it equally bitter-sweet that his views on race are still sought after.
"If King came back today, he would be very pleased with the progress we've made. He'd be very
disappointed that we're still tackling the issue of race," he said.
1 May 2002: Bush the 'sinner' speaks out for faith
17 January 2002: Luther King assassin honoured by mistake
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004. Terms & Conditions of reading.
Commercial information. Privacy Policy.