Under the baobab: Community gathers to remember the March on Washington

Aug. 28 was the 61st anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his inspiring “I Have a Dream” speech. It was also the 69th anniversary of the lynching of Emmett Till. Today we are collectively actuating the American dream as a daughter of two immigrants attempts to ascend to the presidency of the United States.

There was a time when people who looked like Vice President Kamala Harris were prevented from being full citizens. Racial and sexual discrimination were the law of the land, brutally and violently enforced. It took the sacrifice and struggle of Black and white patriots to turn that ship around.

The year 1963 was a transitional one in America. Protesters were brutally attacked when they tried to integrate a Woolworth lunch counter in Jackson. In the spring, MLK, Rev. Shuttlesworth, James Bevel and Dorothy Cotton organized a protest movement against segregation/discrimination in Birmingham, Alabama. Police chief Bull Connor used violent beatings, attack dogs and fire houses to suppress the nonviolent demonstrations. Over 2,500 people, including many children, were arrested. Medgar Evers, head of Mississippi NAACP, was gunned down in front of his home. As the freedom movement accelerated, churches and homes were bombed. People were killed. The country remained knee deep in a system of white supremacy.

In an attempt to highlight the second-class status of the country’s Black citizens, civil rights leaders Bayard Rustin and A. Phillip Randolph planned a march on the nation’s capital to recognize the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. They were joined by Roy Wilkins, president of the NAACP; John Lewis, Chairman of SNCC; James Farmer, president of CORE, and MLK, president of SCLC. They solicited support from white allies, labor and religious leaders: Walter Reuther, UAW president; Eugene Carson Blake, former director of the National Council of Churches; Walter Ahmann, director of the Catholic Conference for Racial Justice and Joachim Prinz, president of the American Jewish Congress.

Many were afraid the march would erupt into another Birmingham. Some predicted there might be 40-50,000 marchers. Over 250,000 of us showed up and changed the world.

Last week in the MLK Plaza, State College’s Racial, Equity Advisory Commission commemorated the 1963 march. It was organized by Gary Abdullah. Carmin Wong composed a poem for the occasion. State College Mayor Ezra Nanes presented a proclamation. College Township Council member Tracy Mariner and UPUA Vice President Rasha Elwakil served as MCs.

The program demonstrated the evolving diversity in our community by presenting people of color who have been elected to public office. Each gave a brief description of their journey and plans for the future. District Judge Donald Hahn shared his story of being the first person of color to sit on the State College Borough Council. Gopal Balachandran and Nalina Krishnankutty, presently serving on the council, contrasted their experience. Pamela Robb and Sultan Magruder shared their experiences on the Patton Township Board of Supervisors.

Penn State student Juan-Rodrigo Salares discussed the mission of Lion’s Pantry. Penn State organizations were well represented by Elwakil and UPUA President Zion Sykes; African Studies Association President Barron Owusu; National Pan-Hellenic Council President Brooklyn Jones and student NAACP president Lenneya Murray. Also in attendance was CCU chairperson Terry Watson, Patton Township supervisor Betsy Whitman, State Rep. Paul Takac, former State College Borough Council President Jesse Barlow, PSU Prof. Jo Dumas, Dean Clarence Lang from the College of Liberal Arts, State College council member Kevin Kassab, State College Borough Manager Tom Fountaine, and senior faculty mentor Prof. Jennifer Hamer.

Terri Parker accompanied by Stephen Mariner closed the program with a beautiful rendition of the hymn, “Still I Rise.”

In these difficult times, the well-organized event reminded us that democracy is a verb as well as a noun. Well done, neighbors.