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Another March on Washington? After Ferguson, 'That's not change. That's just church' Another March on Washington? After Ferguson, 'That's not change. That's just church'
(about 11 hours later)
It’s not a popular or polite thing to say, but from a policy standpoint, the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a total failure.It’s not a popular or polite thing to say, but from a policy standpoint, the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a total failure.
True, the march did capture the imagination of a nation, and it was integral to the biggest expansion of legal protections for African Americans since the Emancipation Proclamation. At the end of the march, Martin Luther King said he had a dream. And the next two years would see the US Congress pass the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But you don’t have to look much further than the march’s 10 demands to see that the goals of the most famous peaceful protest in American history are just as far, if not further, out of reach for black Americans now than they were a half-century ago.True, the march did capture the imagination of a nation, and it was integral to the biggest expansion of legal protections for African Americans since the Emancipation Proclamation. At the end of the march, Martin Luther King said he had a dream. And the next two years would see the US Congress pass the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But you don’t have to look much further than the march’s 10 demands to see that the goals of the most famous peaceful protest in American history are just as far, if not further, out of reach for black Americans now than they were a half-century ago.
Long before the term “prison-industrial complex” became popular in this new civil rights movement with new terms, stronger language and instruments for change better suited to our times, that August 1963 march – the march on Washington – demanded that Congress stop counting prisoners as “residents” for congressional representation (and gerrymandering) since they can’t vote. Surprise, surprise: that kind of discrimination still happens.Long before the term “prison-industrial complex” became popular in this new civil rights movement with new terms, stronger language and instruments for change better suited to our times, that August 1963 march – the march on Washington – demanded that Congress stop counting prisoners as “residents” for congressional representation (and gerrymandering) since they can’t vote. Surprise, surprise: that kind of discrimination still happens.
Way back in ’63, the March on Washington called for a minimum wage that, adjusted for inflation, would have equalled $15.50 – which is about how much fast food workers have been striking for this year. In case you missed it: The national minimum wage is still $7.25, less than half of that.Way back in ’63, the March on Washington called for a minimum wage that, adjusted for inflation, would have equalled $15.50 – which is about how much fast food workers have been striking for this year. In case you missed it: The national minimum wage is still $7.25, less than half of that.
That “effective civil rights legislation” guaranteeing “the right to vote”, seemingly attained by the Voting Rights Act of 1965? Gutted by the US supreme court last year, and things aren’t looking any better this term.That “effective civil rights legislation” guaranteeing “the right to vote”, seemingly attained by the Voting Rights Act of 1965? Gutted by the US supreme court last year, and things aren’t looking any better this term.
And so goes the dream deferred. Indeed, a local bus boycott in Montgomery in 1955 got more concrete results than taking to the National Mall.And so goes the dream deferred. Indeed, a local bus boycott in Montgomery in 1955 got more concrete results than taking to the National Mall.
If the 1963 March on Washington let us down in terms of actionable results, if it only looks more effective with the nostalgia of black-and-white tinted glasses, then why are Al Sharpton, the National Action Network and the NAACP trying to recapture that former glory with a 2014 March on Washington this weekend?If the 1963 March on Washington let us down in terms of actionable results, if it only looks more effective with the nostalgia of black-and-white tinted glasses, then why are Al Sharpton, the National Action Network and the NAACP trying to recapture that former glory with a 2014 March on Washington this weekend?
Marches are great – whether you’ve got Farrakhan and a million men in the capital or 10 protesters walking down the street in Ferguson – but it’s worth remembering, in this year’s new civil rights moment, that we’ve been introduced to so many new, beautiful and creative tactics of protest, that we can do better than cable time on the National Mall.Marches are great – whether you’ve got Farrakhan and a million men in the capital or 10 protesters walking down the street in Ferguson – but it’s worth remembering, in this year’s new civil rights moment, that we’ve been introduced to so many new, beautiful and creative tactics of protest, that we can do better than cable time on the National Mall.
New York City’s Millions March is dubbed a “day of anger”, which even sounds more agitating than Sharpton’s “Justice For All” march in DC. Where’s the die-in on Washington? Where’s the modern version of a Poor People’s Campaign, the more radical occupation of the National Mall toward which Martin Luther King himself evolved – and was planning when he was killed?New York City’s Millions March is dubbed a “day of anger”, which even sounds more agitating than Sharpton’s “Justice For All” march in DC. Where’s the die-in on Washington? Where’s the modern version of a Poor People’s Campaign, the more radical occupation of the National Mall toward which Martin Luther King himself evolved – and was planning when he was killed?
The new “March on Washington is awkward”, Jeffrey McCune, a professor at Washington University in St Louis and a leading voice in the Missouri movement that has gone national, told me this week. As the legacy civil rights groups that make up Race Inc were finishing plans, they expected the march to be the single largest American protest event since the killing of Michael Brown. It will also be the opposite of the mostly young and totally successful grassroots organizing behind #BlackLivesMatter and more.The new “March on Washington is awkward”, Jeffrey McCune, a professor at Washington University in St Louis and a leading voice in the Missouri movement that has gone national, told me this week. As the legacy civil rights groups that make up Race Inc were finishing plans, they expected the march to be the single largest American protest event since the killing of Michael Brown. It will also be the opposite of the mostly young and totally successful grassroots organizing behind #BlackLivesMatter and more.
“There are organizations which want to keep the dream alive,” McCune said, but “it’s the nightmare, that America keeps putting on repeat, which keeps the activism alive.”“There are organizations which want to keep the dream alive,” McCune said, but “it’s the nightmare, that America keeps putting on repeat, which keeps the activism alive.”
McCune credits the momentum that’s fought the nightmare for four months now as having nothing to do with “the usual suspects” like Sharpton and “everything to do with a new millennial generation – young people – who are sick and tired of being sick and tired.”McCune credits the momentum that’s fought the nightmare for four months now as having nothing to do with “the usual suspects” like Sharpton and “everything to do with a new millennial generation – young people – who are sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
Now that Dr King is posthumously considered a saint (even if he wasn’t in real life), the establishment leaders behind Race Inc – hand-in-hand with American businesses in ways that would have made MLK himself uncomfortable – tend to rally around posthumous, model victims of past racism when they want to rally activists. What’s different about people using new tactics like #BlackLivesMatter, rallying people online and in the streets to protest the killings of Eric Garner or Michael Brown, McCune argues, is that now is “not the time to rally around our grievances of the great Reverend Doctor being killed, but of ... everyday folk who are being killed and massacred by the people who are supposed to protect them.”Now that Dr King is posthumously considered a saint (even if he wasn’t in real life), the establishment leaders behind Race Inc – hand-in-hand with American businesses in ways that would have made MLK himself uncomfortable – tend to rally around posthumous, model victims of past racism when they want to rally activists. What’s different about people using new tactics like #BlackLivesMatter, rallying people online and in the streets to protest the killings of Eric Garner or Michael Brown, McCune argues, is that now is “not the time to rally around our grievances of the great Reverend Doctor being killed, but of ... everyday folk who are being killed and massacred by the people who are supposed to protect them.”
A movement of, for and about everyday people doesn’t necessarily require reenacting MLK’s greatest hits. It requires new kinds of protest nationwide – sometimes, but not exclusively, marching in the streets, in response to the people on the margins being killed in the streets. It requires protesting in every street, not just on the National Mall.A movement of, for and about everyday people doesn’t necessarily require reenacting MLK’s greatest hits. It requires new kinds of protest nationwide – sometimes, but not exclusively, marching in the streets, in response to the people on the margins being killed in the streets. It requires protesting in every street, not just on the National Mall.
Of the protesters I’ve kept in touch with since I was in Ferguson after Brown’s killing this summer, McCune is not alone in questioning the wisdom of taking the action to DC – not nearly:Of the protesters I’ve kept in touch with since I was in Ferguson after Brown’s killing this summer, McCune is not alone in questioning the wisdom of taking the action to DC – not nearly:
This "national march" in DC ... Or wherever it is this weekend.. Why are the people being taken away from the place that MADE this a moment?This "national march" in DC ... Or wherever it is this weekend.. Why are the people being taken away from the place that MADE this a moment?
What happened in Ferguson, and New York, and Cleveland, and Miami Gardens, weren’t aberrations in black: we are facing a national crisis of black life being devalued. Some 1,581 police departments racially profile more than the Ferguson police department.What happened in Ferguson, and New York, and Cleveland, and Miami Gardens, weren’t aberrations in black: we are facing a national crisis of black life being devalued. Some 1,581 police departments racially profile more than the Ferguson police department.
So how do we move forward nationally, without losing what’s powered the movement so far?So how do we move forward nationally, without losing what’s powered the movement so far?
I am of the mind that a variety of tactics are needed, from taking to the streets without permits, to getting in the ear of the president. But decentralized die-ins and marches are usually dismissed, even though their effectiveness is doubtless when New York City has had to pay millions of police overtime, traffic stops keep local and national media attention on the crisis, and Black Friday sales go down.I am of the mind that a variety of tactics are needed, from taking to the streets without permits, to getting in the ear of the president. But decentralized die-ins and marches are usually dismissed, even though their effectiveness is doubtless when New York City has had to pay millions of police overtime, traffic stops keep local and national media attention on the crisis, and Black Friday sales go down.
Meanwhile, going to the White House or the National Mall invokes Audre Lorde’s warning that “the master’s tools can never never dismantle the master’s house”. Indeed, the young activist Philip Agnew, who has made so much progress since the killing of Trayvon Martin, wrote in these pages a week ago that his Oval Office meeting left him wondering if “our ‘impactful’ meeting with this nation’s first black president will yield any change that people in Ferguson or Flint or Chicago can feel.” Meanwhile, going to the White House or the National Mall invokes Audre Lorde’s warning that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house”. Indeed, the young activist Philip Agnew, who has made so much progress since the killing of Trayvon Martin, wrote in these pages a week ago that his Oval Office meeting left him wondering if “our ‘impactful’ meeting with this nation’s first black president will yield any change that people in Ferguson or Flint or Chicago can feel.”
How do we move most effectively to exploit both safe, insider political theater (which the DC march will be) and the kind of savvy, outside agitation that makes folks nervous, for maximum change?How do we move most effectively to exploit both safe, insider political theater (which the DC march will be) and the kind of savvy, outside agitation that makes folks nervous, for maximum change?
Politeness can be one position, and an MSNBC-ready march can be one tactic. But the danger, McCune says, is that the 2014 March on Washington can also become a symbol to let America off the hook:Politeness can be one position, and an MSNBC-ready march can be one tactic. But the danger, McCune says, is that the 2014 March on Washington can also become a symbol to let America off the hook:
If anything, it makes America feel like it did its job by watching television. When people were rising up, revolting and rioting, folks didn’t know what to do. Americans were like, ‘What are we going to do about that? What about those killings?’ That’s where the conversation happens. That’s where change happens. With this march, it will turn to ‘Let’s clap and sing a few songs, let’s listen with the good Reverend Al Sharpton. … Put a Band-Aid on it.’ That’s not systemic change. That’s just church.If anything, it makes America feel like it did its job by watching television. When people were rising up, revolting and rioting, folks didn’t know what to do. Americans were like, ‘What are we going to do about that? What about those killings?’ That’s where the conversation happens. That’s where change happens. With this march, it will turn to ‘Let’s clap and sing a few songs, let’s listen with the good Reverend Al Sharpton. … Put a Band-Aid on it.’ That’s not systemic change. That’s just church.
I’ve long worried that the real threat Ferguson faces – that all of us face, really – is that the danger of the status quo will be forgotten. In an era when chants of “We Shall Overcome” have been replaced by “the whole damn system is guilty as hell”, let’s hope this weekend’s march doesn’t try to paper over our systematic devaluation of black life with fantasies that if we are patient enough or hug enough white cops or sing “Kumbaya” into the capital city’s afternoon sky, that everything’s gonna be OK and undercover cops won’t still be standing there, pointing a gun in your face.I’ve long worried that the real threat Ferguson faces – that all of us face, really – is that the danger of the status quo will be forgotten. In an era when chants of “We Shall Overcome” have been replaced by “the whole damn system is guilty as hell”, let’s hope this weekend’s march doesn’t try to paper over our systematic devaluation of black life with fantasies that if we are patient enough or hug enough white cops or sing “Kumbaya” into the capital city’s afternoon sky, that everything’s gonna be OK and undercover cops won’t still be standing there, pointing a gun in your face.
We can’t let any March on Washington, no matter how venerated, slow down what’s been happening in our streets.We can’t let any March on Washington, no matter how venerated, slow down what’s been happening in our streets.