Numerous organizations opposing hate will come together in the nation’s capital on Monday to remember a pivotal moment in America’s struggle for ethnic equality on Aug. 28, the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington.
Two days beforehand, 150 representatives from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) New York/New Jersey region met with members of other civil-rights groups for the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington D.C., which culminated in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s delivery of his “I Have a Dream” speech. CEO and national president Jonathan Greenblatt spoke about racism, bigotry and antisemitism.
ADL leaders were at the civil-rights march six decades ago, when King proclaimed his vision that one day, “right down in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
The Baptist minister, steeped in the righteous vision of the Hebrew prophets, then invoked Isaiah, saying, “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
Groups co-chairing the event with the ADL’s New York/New Jersey Region include the NAACP, the National Action Network, the Drum Major Institute, the National Coalition, Unidos, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and members of King’s family.
