New Generation on the March
Black Youths and the March on Washington: Fighting a New Breed of Racism
By Tonyaa Weathersbee
Source: BlackAmericaWeb.com
When I think about the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, I think about
all the young black people back in 1963 whose footsteps were powered by their pain.
And their dreams.
Many, like U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, then a member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
and the youngest person to speak at the march, made their way to the National Mall, their flesh still stinging
from billy club beatings and hits from high-pressure hoses, their ears still ringing with slurs from racists.
Yet they didn't give in to the hopelessness that such violence was intended to induce. They fought it.
And because they fought it, they ended the unjust laws that would have kept them stuck at second class status.
But here we are, 50 years later, and the violence and discouragement that many young black people who marched
on Washington endured is plaguing black youths again.
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