March on Washington Anniversary Inspires Low-Wage Worker Advocates

The march on Washington 1963

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When civil rights activists marched in Washington fifty years ago, their movement became known as a push for racial equality. With the anniversary Aug. 28, advocates have been reminding the public and lawmakers that the march was for jobs and freedom, and they believe low- wage work reforms are needed in order for the dreams of those who marched years ago and in the events this week to be realized.

“The March on Washington was just as much about jobs as racial equality,” national radio
commentator Joe Madison said. “And we still see racial disparity when it comes to economics.”

Good Jobs Nation held a discussion on economic inequality with civil rights leaders, media and
low-wage workers Aug. 21 at the National Press Club. The panelists what can be learned from the
advocates of the civil rights movement and the progress still needed.

“Workers today have fewer rights than they had at the time of the march,” SNCC activist Larry Rubin
said. “There are more than forty nations with greater economic mobility than here in the U.S.”

While panelists pointed out the work yet to be done, they also spoke of current efforts for economic equality as means of furthering the societal, legal, political and economic progress of the last fifty years.

“I believe we’ve made it to the promise land, but we’ve got some cleaning up to do,” Alvin Turner, a 1968 Memphis sanitation striker who demonstrated with Martin Luther King Jr., said.

Advocates are calling on President Obama to issue an executive order declaring that the federal
government would consider wages when contracting with private company. Today, the federal government employs two million individuals at poverty wages. Rubin called on those workers to lead the
movement for change. “The thing to take away from the March on Washington is the crowd, not the speech,” Rubin said.

With many events to mark the anniversary, Madison said he hopes the anniversary it not just
observed but leads people to action.

“This is not a commemoration of the march, but a continuation,” Madison said.


Issues |Civil Rights|Systemic Racism


Region |Downtown|Ward 2|Washington DC

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