August 25, 2011 (New York, NY) -- Rev. Al Sharpton and National Action Network (NAN), along with partners in labor, education, civil rights, and clergy from across the country, will hold a mass march for jobs and justice on Saturday, August 27, 2011.
The rally and March will be held by thousands of members of the civil rights community and all those who continue to push for equality across the board. These parties will convene in our nation's capital to assess our progress and march on for the battles that still lay ahead. The event is being co-chaired by Rev. Dr. Franklyn Richardson, Senior Pastor of Grace Baptist Church & Chairman of National Action Network, Lee A. Saunders, Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (AFSCME), and Randi Weingarten, President of American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The National Director of the March is Pastor Willie F. Wilson from Union Temple Baptist Church. The March co-host is Tom Joyner from The Tom Joyner Morning Show. Among the speakers is the eldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Martin Luther King III, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Marc Morial, Ben Jealous, Larry Cohen, Tom Joyner, Rickey Smiley, Dennis Van Roekel.
A rally preceding the march will begin at 10a.m. at Constitution Ave NW and 16th Street NW. The march will begin at 1:30pm to the King Memorial site on Ohio Drive, SW and West Basin Drive, SW.
It is NAN's goal to emphasize what it was that gave Dr. King such an exalted place in American history. It was his work for civil rights and labor rights that made him the historic figure he has become. It was near the grounds of his monument that he was planning a tent city for poor people when he was killed. NAN will use the occasion of August 27th to raise this unfinished business and challenge those that seek to undo what Dr. King tried to do for working people and labor in this country.
According to Rev. Sharpton: "There are relatively few moments in our lives that make history; The weekend of August 27th & 28th will be one for the history books as we not only commemorate the 48th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream Speech', but also when the world bears witness to the unveiling of the national King Memorial. We are living in perhaps one of the most unpredictable and capricious times in our nation's history and while people of color and the traditionally marginalized are making enormous strides with access to places never even imaginable before, the working class and poor are still under attack in extraordinary and systematic ways. When the disenfranchised are further removed from the mainstream, the class divide between the haves and have not's naturally increases. For those who may be quick to forget the legacy of Dr. King, let us remember that he died while fighting for worker's rights and the basic human dignity of all."
National Action Network's August 27th march will call attention to key issues that have not been remedied in this country. As working Americans struggle to gain employment and livable wages, we continue to watch rampant foreclosures and fluctuating markets most heavily impacting those that are already suffering under tumultuous financial times. NAN, and its partners in labor, education, civil rights and the church, call on every man, woman and child who understands the urgency of social justice on all levels to join them in Washington, D.C. Saturday, August 27th.
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