Blog Posts Related to the African American Community

President Obama at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Dedication: "We Will Overcome"

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha and Malia, and Marian Robinson tour the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial before the dedication ceremony in Washington, D.C., Sunday, Oct. 16, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Today, nearly half a century after Martin Luther King, Jr. led the historic March on Washington for equality, tens of thousands came to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Dedication. The memorial to Dr. King has been open since August, but the dedication was delayed due to Hurricane Irene. As President Obama said, though delayed, "this is a day that would not be denied."

President Obama, joined by the First Family, toured the memorial and then spoke at the dedication ceremony in honor of Dr. King's work to make his dream a reality for all. During his speech, President Obama reminded us that the progress towards Dr. King's vision has not come easily and there is still more to do to expand opportunity and make our nation more just:

Our work is not done.  And so on this day, in which we celebrate a man and a movement that did so much for this country, let us draw strength from those earlier struggles.  First and foremost, let us remember that change has never been quick.  Change has never been simple, or without controversy.  Change depends on persistence.  Change requires determination.  It took a full decade before the moral guidance of Brown v. Board of Education was translated into the enforcement measures of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, but those 10 long years did not lead Dr. King to give up.  He kept on pushing, he kept on speaking, he kept on marching until change finally came. 

And then when, even after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act passed, African Americans still found themselves trapped in pockets of poverty across the country, Dr. King didn’t say those laws were a failure; he didn’t say this is too hard; he didn’t say, let’s settle for what we got and go home.  Instead he said, let’s take those victories and broaden our mission to achieve not just civil and political equality but also economic justice; let’s fight for a living wage and better schools and jobs for all who are willing to work.  In other words, when met with hardship, when confronting disappointment, Dr. King refused to accept what he called the “isness” of today.  He kept pushing towards the “oughtness” of tomorrow.

And so, as we think about all the work that we must do –- rebuilding an economy that can compete on a global stage, and fixing our schools so that every child -- not just some, but every child -- gets a world-class education, and making sure that our health care system is affordable and accessible to all, and that our economic system is one in which everybody gets a fair shake and everybody does their fair share, let us not be trapped by what is.  We can’t be discouraged by what is.  We’ve got to keep pushing for what ought to be, the America we ought to leave to our children, mindful that the hardships we face are nothing compared to those Dr. King and his fellow marchers faced 50 years ago, and that if we maintain our faith, in ourselves and in the possibilities of this nation, there is no challenge we cannot surmount.

The King Memorial: A Symbol of the Best in America

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., attends the dedication ceremony for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., Sunday, Oct. 16, 2011. Colin Powell, left, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are also pictured. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

On August 28, 1963, the day of the March on Washington, all of the platform speakers were invited to the White House to meet with President John F. Kennedy.  A few months earlier I had made my very first trip to the White House. I was only 23-years-old and also the brand-new chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.  It was amazing.  A week into my new job I was headed to the White House to meet President Kennedy. 

I was with five other great men, including Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins, James Farmer, and Whitney Young, known as the Big Six leaders of the movement.  There were many women who were instrumental to our plans to march and many heroines of the movement, including Coretta Scott King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Height, Ella Baker and Diane Nash.  However, as was customary in those times, none of them were in the room that day.  We told President Kennedy the people could not wait any longer.  We were planning to call on thousands to march on Washington. 

President Kennedy was visibly concerned.  He was sitting in the Oval Office in his rocking chair, and he began to rock a little more briskly.  He was concerned about violence.  He wanted to cool down rising tensions, but A. Philip Randolph, the founder of the Brotherhood of Pullman Car Porters, the dean of our movement, and the visionary behind the march assured him this would be a lawful, peaceful, non-violent march.  I will never forget.  Randolph told him, we could not wait any longer.  “Mr. President, he said, “if we cool down any more we will be in a deep freeze.”

After the largest march Washington had ever seen, the President stood in the door of his office relaxed and beaming.  He shook each hand and said, “You did a good job.  You did a good job.”  But when he got to Martin Luther King Jr. he said, “And you had a dream.”