March on Washington - Research Paper Example

March on Washington Introduction March on Washington that was known as March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a political demonstration that was held in Washington DC on the 28th of August 1963 in protest against discrimination in races, provision of employment to the unemployed and to rally support for the bills on the major Civil Rights that were pending in the Congress at the time. These protests were done by the leaders of the Civil Rights and the assembly attracted over 2500000 people from all over the various states of the United States of America. This formed the rally that was attended by the largest number of people in the country in history. Organization of the March on Washington Organization of the March on Washington began in late 1962 when Bayard Rustin and Philip Randolph envisioned two days of protests and a mass rally at the Lincoln Hall where they were focusing on provision of employment to the blacks.[Pat03] Philip Randolph who was the founder he Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Negro American Labor Council was the original owner of the idea of the march in Washington. His vision is dated back in 1940 when he organized protests against segregation and racial discrimination in the military insisting to the white house to take the necessary steps to reverse this situation. His pressure saw the president sign an Executive Order. Randolph in connection with Rustin rallied 10000 black employees in protest against the discrimination that was done in the hiring of us military contractors. Prior to the march on Washington, Rustin and Randolph called many marches 1940 most of which were canceled. The activists addressed the issues that were directly affecting the people and openly spoke of what the people were going through with Martin Luther besides other speakers openly and directly condemning racial segregation in his speech and calling for equality and justice for all. They called for recognition of black Americans as people who equally had the knowledge and skills that were of importance in the development of the American economy. This enabled them to have a direct touch with the citizens.[Dav14] Jansson competencies Prior protests and demonstration back in 1940 in demand of equality and lifting off of racial discrimination provided political competency to the march, mobilizing support from the masses. The training of the marshals to aid in the control of the crowd using non-violent techniques showed yet another political competency, assuring the crowd of security. The organization of the march on Washington took into consideration a number of critical issues with well-formulated plans by the organizers. Ethical reasoning as a value-clarifying competency was highly observed with all the plans made to curb any form of violence that would erupt from the march. Rustin used his brilliant tactics in organizing a peaceful rally.[Osw08] There were task groups that were formed and entitled with various functions. The group of two hundred activists oversaw the raising of funds from churches and gathering to finance the project. The group as well informed the masses through publicizing the event thereby establishing direct links with the people. The march was also financed by the Big Six Team that comprised of Randolph who was the ring leader of the march, Martin Luther King Jr., Whitney Young, the head of National Urban League, John Lewis who was the chairperson of the student nonviolent coordinating committee, Roy Wilkins and James Farmer, the president of congress of racial equality. Audience At the time of its organization, Rustin, who was a prime organizer of the rally as was tasked by Randolph because of his brilliant and excellent skills in organizing nonviolent rallies, estimated an attendance of 100000 people.[Wil13] The population estimate in contrary to the actual number that turned out where there were 190000 blacks and 60000 whites. The meeting remained to have been attended by the largest number of people in the country’s capital in history. This great multitude raised security concerns in the government prompting the government to mobilize over 6000 police officers and numerous mustered soldiers to oversee the match and safeguard it against violence outbreak.To the dismay of everyone, this turned to be the most peaceful rally with no elements of violence. After the end of the speeches from the speakers, everyone walked away peacefully and in an orderly manner proving right Rustin's skills in organizing nonviolent rallies and demonstrations. The rally was attended by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., who rose the emotions and strength of the crowd from his speech that was named I have a dream. The speech acted as a source of optimism to the crowd as it was in line with the grievances of the black Americans protesting against racial discrimination. Vision The march was formed to address major issues that were affecting the African Americans that were among them racial discrimination, school segregation and lack of employment for the black Americans. Their vision was to see racism come to an end and the civil rights legislation that were pending in the Congress passed to bring equality between the whites and the blacks. To achieve the above visions, the organizers of the march on Washington despite having different opinions about the march, had similar demands that they wanted to be addressed by President Kennedy’s government. Among the demands were: A minimum wage of $2 per hour. Elimination of segregation schools where Africans had their schools in which poor quality teaching programs were offered. Passing of the Civil Rights legislation by the Congress to protect the workers against exploitation and harassment. Not issuing funds from the federal government to programs that promoted discrimination. Passing of a federal law that protects an individual against public or private discrimination.[Mar90] Social justice Social justice defined as a state of equality in terms of political, economic and social status. Social Justice formed the backbone of the protests and demonstrations that were organized prior to the march on Washington and also the main theme in the Lincoln Hall. The activists felt that there were very wide disparities between the whites and the black which required urgent attention to rectify. People of all calibers attended the march, from the whites to the black, rich and poor, old and young all assembled to fight equality and balance among the citizens of the United States of America. Martin Luther King says in a section of his speech dream that he has a dream that one day the people of the United States of America will one day come to brotherhood and sit around tables comfortably. By that he meant one day the disparity among the Americans would one day seize to exist and everyone will treat the other equally.[Geo14] Tactics Rustin who also was the organizer the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation was the main mobilizer of the march. He formed a team comprising of two hundred activists who informed the public of the march and recruited the marchers. The activists also organized for trains and buses that were to bring people to the hall on the material day besides organizing fundraising in churches and gatherings to collect money that would be used to facilitate the exercise. He also organized training of the marshals that would ensure order and control the crowd using nonviolent methods. Rustin also wrote a manual called organizing manual that spelled out objectives of the meeting, the agenda of the day besides the logistics. In as much the two were working out all the possible ways to see the march a success, not everyone was in support of it including Rustin himself who at a point thought that the rally would turn violent and claim a number of lives of the citizens thereby delaying or interfering with the process of passing the legislation on the Civil Rights. There were divergent opinions about the vision of the march with different groups of organizers citing varied views.[LSS00] Urban League treated it as a sign of support to the bill of the civil servants that was pending in the Congress, Randolph and Martin Luther King Jr. saw it to be a way out of elevating the economic issues in the country to levels beyond the Kennedy bill who was the sitting president while the Congress of Social Equality thought of it as a means of challenging the president’s administration and its lack of consideration of the welfare of the black Americans. Power The power in the organization of the March on Washington was the people that attended the rally. From the huge number that turned out to get their problems addressed, a lot of reforms were introduced by the central government that saw bridging of the gap between the whites and the black. The power of the masses enabled the pending legislative laws regarding civil rights passed by the Congress. The civil rights protected the black Americans and allowed them equal opportunities in voting, eating, shopping and schooling contrary to the case initially in which the black Americans were only supposed to be attending district schools only set aside for them.[Hea14] Power was also recognized to be with Bayard Rustin. From the tactics he used all the way from the initial stages to the outcome of the actual rally showed the commanding power and excellent ability to mobilize the masses for a protest without any violence involved.it was this power and skills that Philip Randolph who was his co-partner in the organization of the march to entrust and task him with the mobilization and logistics role of the march. From the speech by Martin Luther King, we find power in his utterances. The wordings of the speech not only raised the emotions of the audience that attended the rally but also pinpointed the problems that the people were facing. From this speech, several changes were enacted by the government that made the lives of the people better after that than it was before. Meaning of Martin Luther King’s Speech Martin Luther King remained to stand out among the activists that were advocating for changes in the operations of activities in the United States of America. He was the leader the civil rights movement and an outstanding person who sharply condemned any violent methods of achieving social change. His eloquence and deep determination in the achievement of equality of all races made him be a famous man. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the speakers that attended the march on Washington and the speech he delivered that was named “I Have A Dream” remains one of the most powerful and memorable speeches of the time. The speech addressed the discriminatory actions against the black Americans and foretold that one day people would be brothers implying that one day all the people dwelling in the United States of America would be equal. The meaning of this dream was interpreted as in the future a revolution would occur that wouldn’t favor the whites and would be accepted by everyone. The injustices, pain and struggle that the whites subjected to in the south would one day come to an end and the African Americans and the Americans would come together and feel that they are equal.[Dav14] He is not only longing for equality between the blacks and the white but also longing for his race to be accepted prompting him to make the sentiments “I have a dream that on day USA will be united.[Rob07] A time would come when racial discrimination would be a heard of even in the worst regions of the country like Mississippi and there would be no judgment based on skin color but on what services they can offer to the country. Impacts of the Speech on Vision Martin Luther’s speech “I Have A Dream” showed that he had a vision for the people to have a society that was free from racial discrimination and allowed people to live their lives in the way they felt it was best for them. Unfortunately, the King’s vision has not changed to be a reality in the United States of America to date. To some extent, the King’s speech had a vision impact as it enabled and facilitated Americans to become equal than they were before his speech thus a better place to dwell in. Another vision in the King’s speech was non-violence demonstrations. He always made attempts not to indulge in any form of violence and also urged his supporters to follow his steps.[Mar90] Civil Rights Legislation The speech acted as an inspiration to those who were practicing any forms of civil inequalities such as racial injustices. The membership of the united nation doubled in 1964 with new members embarking on campaigns against racial injustices as was addressed by Martin Luther King. The speech facilitated the passing of the civil rights bill that gave equal treatments to the black Americans more than they had had before. Martin Luther King was a catalyst in the fight for social changes, organizing movements that advocated for equality such as the civil rights acts and the voting rights act both of 1965. The two acts brought a number of reforms to the American Constitution giving room for blacks to treated the same as the whites and this not only had an impact on America but in the world as a whole. Luther's dream hasn't fully been achieved, there is a very broad ridge between the America of racially segregated society that was in existence during his time and the current one that is headed by a president who is a black American.[Jak04] Social work code of ethics The King’s speech stressed the need to respect and uphold the value of all the human beings regardless of their races in which the social workers were urged to respect and defend the physical, psychological and emotion well-being of fellow workers. The speech also called for equal opportunities and rights to participation of everybody in the provision of the services that they could offer in an attempt to foster their life empowerment.[Jam92] Martin Luther advocated for recognition of the strengths of every member of the society and empowerment to perform tasks and deliver services. The speech finally called for full respect for a person's whole life, respecting the family, community and his environmental set up. Causes of social justice In his speech, Martin Luther condemned a number of evil practices that added to social injustices not only in the American society of the time but also in the world of today. Martin Luther strongly condemned any form of discrimination more categorically racial discrimination and hoped that one day, the sons of the slaves would share a table with the slave owners and feel comfortable.[Jam92] He was agitating for solidarity among the diverse groups of people in the society. Luther King not only long for an end to racial discrimination but also that is race would also be recognized and accepted in the American society.In such an appeal, he was advocating for recognition of the diversity that exists in any working force. Conclusion The 28th August 1963 March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech I have a dream not only had an impact on the system of governance in the United States of America but also provided guidelines on what the whole world should do for the purposes of equality and provision of civil rights to its citizens. There should not be any form of discrimination in a country for every citizen in a country has skills, strengths and knowledge in a particular field that if given chance he can use to empower himself and the country as a whole. Though not fully implemented, the world has moved miles away from where it was more than half a century ago. Continuous adoption of the arguments of Martin Luther statements from his speech will make the world a better place to dwell in with a reduction in the level of disparity to as low as possible and even to non-existence. References Pat03: , (Bass, 2003, p. 254), Dav14: , (Aretha, 2014, p. 63), Osw08: , (Bayer, 2008, p. 189), Wil13: , (Jones, 2013, p. 354), Mar90: , (King, 1990, p. 425), Geo14: , (Lyon, 2014, p. 320), LSS00: , (Summer, 2000, p. 103), Hea14: , (Schwartz, 2014, p. 153), Dav14: , (Aretha, 2014, p. 81), Rob07: , (Doak, 2007, p. 12), Mar90: , (King, 1990, p. 239), Jak04: , (Miller, 2004, p. 164), Jam92: , (Haskins, 1992, p. 96), Read More