Connect with us

Washington

Johnson: Here’s what I remember from the 1963 March on Washington

Published

on

Johnson: Here’s what I remember from the 1963 March on Washington


Rev. Peter Johnson(Michael Hogue)

I am sitting in my office on August 28 remembering the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that took place on this date in 1963.

I have so many wonderful memories of that day. I see the faces of so many people of every race, ethnicity, gender and religion. I’ve been part of hundreds of marches in my lifetime, but the March on Washington is still that march, that event, that experience that continues to remind me of what America can be if we all work together.

There are some things about that march which are not well-known. First, I was a skinny, handsome teenager fresh out of high school when I attended the march. I helped to organize a group from my hometown of Plaquemine, La., and surrounding areas. We had more than four charter buses headed from the bayous of Louisiana to the capital.

We were happy and yet hesitant at the same time. Interstate travel with integrated buses was against the law in the South. We knew many of us would not make it to the march because of being arrested by state police in Louisiana, Mississippi or Georgia. We had already raised bail money before we left, and we needed it!

Advertisement

Opinion

Get smart opinions on the topics North Texans care about.

One of the speakers to be featured that day, Dr. James Farmer, who was head of the Congress of Racial Equality, was not able to speak at the march because he was in jail in my hometown. He was there with us as we protested the stifling voting laws in our parish. The protests led to my home church being tear-gassed by state troopers while we were having a meeting. They busted through the doors and windows riding horses throughout the sanctuary, beating us with cattle prods and billy clubs. The local police arrested Farmer and would not release him.

Another interesting item is that one of the biggest supporters of the march was Charlton Heston. He was close friends of Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier and Sammy Davis Jr. He was standing up front with most of the Hollywood celebrities like Robert Culp and Burt Lancaster. The same man who was the lead in the movie The Ten Commandments and a staunch financial supporter of civil rights later in life became the head of the National Rifle Association.

Also, we seem to forget this was not the first March on Washington. In May 1957, a march called Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom had more than 25,000 demonstrators. The march was to encourage the federal government to continue working to implement Brown vs. Board of Education. The figurehead of the 1957 and 1963 marches was A. Philip Randolph, a larger-than-life luminary of the Civil Rights Movement.

Advertisement

I still laugh when I think about how the “I Have a Dream” speech came about. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had already started on a different speech when singer Mahalia Jackson, who was sitting in the background and not known for whispering, shouted, “Martin, tell them about your dream! Tell them about your dream, Martin!”

I guess she must have shouted it one too many times, because King closed his binder and delivered one of the greatest speeches of all time.

You see, Jackson had heard the speech before. Two months before the March on Washington, King stood before a large crowd in Detroit and delivered a sermon titled, “Making the American Dream a reality.” Jackson was present for that speech and shouted for Martin to deliver it again. When King closed his binder that day in Washington, D.C., and looked across the vast audience, Rev. C.T. Vivian could be heard shouting, “We’re about to go to church!”

America, the dream is still alive. I have seen great changes in our country. Do we still have more to do? Yes! But we have come a mighty, mighty long way.

So, as my mentor and one of the greatest 20th-century philosophers said, and I say with him, “I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.”

Advertisement

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com



Source link

Washington

Widespread Verizon outage prompts emergency alerts in Washington, New York City

Published

on

Widespread Verizon outage prompts emergency alerts in Washington, New York City


Verizon said on Wednesday that its wireless service was suffering an outage impacting cellular data and voice services.

The nation’s largest wireless carrier said that its “engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly.”

Verizon’s statement came after a swath of social media comments directed at Verizon, with users saying that their mobile devices were showing no bars of service or “SOS,” indicating a lack of connection.

Verizon, which has more than 146 million customers, appears to have started experiencing services issues around 12:00 p.m. ET, according to comments on social media site X.

Advertisement

Two hours later, Verizon posted an update on social media, saying that its engineers were “continuing to address today’s service interruptions,” but did not say if a specific reason for the outage had been identified or when it could be resolved.

“We understand the impact this has on your day and remain committed to resolving this as quickly as possible,” the company said.

Despite those efforts, shortly after 4:00 p.m. ET, Verizon issued a third statement that contained little new information. The company said teams were “on the ground actively working to fix today’s service issue.”

Users had initially reported problems with Verizon’s competitors, T-Mobile and AT&T, as well. But both companies said they were not experiencing any service problems.

“T-Mobile’s network is keeping our customers connected, and we’ve confirmed that our network is operating normally and as expected,” a spokesperson told NBC News. “However, due to Verizon’s reported outage, our customers may not be able to reach someone with Verizon service at this time.”

Advertisement

A spokeswoman for AT&T also said the company’s network was “operating normally.”

A Verizon store in New York City on Jan. 12, 2024.Angus Mordant / Bloomberg via Getty Images

In Washington, D.C., the District’s official emergency notification system sent out a message to residents saying that the Verizon outage was “nationwide.”

“If you have an emergency and can not connect using your Verizon Wireless device, please connect using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police district or fire station to report the emergency,” the AlertDC system told recipients.

New York City’s Office of Emergency Management also said it was aware of the outage without mentioning Verizon by name. The city said it was “working closely with our partners” to review the outage and “assess any potential effects on city agencies & essential services.”



Source link

Continue Reading

Washington

Vance to meet Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington on Wednesday

Published

on

Vance to meet Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington on Wednesday


People walk along a street in downtown of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.

Evgeniy Maloletka/AP


hide caption

Advertisement

toggle caption

Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

NUUK, Greenland — Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Greenland’s capital, international journalists and camera crews stop passersby every few meters (feet) asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of NATO.

Greenland is at the center of a geopolitical storm as U.S. President Donald Trump is insisting he wants to own the island — and the residents of its capital Nuuk say it is not for sale. Trump said he wants to control Greenland at any cost and the White House has not ruled out taking the island by force.

Advertisement

U.S. Vice President JD Vance will meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the Arctic island, which is a semiautonomous territory of the United States’ NATO ally Denmark.

Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off.”

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Tuesday that, “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”

Greenland is strategically important because as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.

Trump also said he wants the island to expand America’s security and has cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to control it.

Advertisement

But both experts and Greenlanders question that claim.

“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” Lars Vintner, a heating engineer told AP. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.

His friend, Hans Nørgaard, agreed, adding “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”

Denmark has said the U.S. — which already has a military presence — can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a cover,” Vintner said, suggesting Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.

Nørgaard told AP he filed a police complaint in Nuuk against Trump’s “aggressive” behavior because, he said, American officials are threatening the people of Greenland and NATO. He suggested Trump was using the ships as a pretext to further American expansion.

Advertisement

“Donald Trump would like to have Greenland, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would like Ukraine and (Chinese President) Xi Jinping would like to have Taiwan,” Nørgaard said.

Mikaelsen, the student, said Greenlanders benefit from being part of Denmark which provides free health care, education and payments during study.

“I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us,” she said.

Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for business and mineral resources said it’s “unfathomable” that the United States is discussing taking over a NATO ally and urged the Trump administration to listen to voices from the Arctic island’s people.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Washington

HIGHLIGHT | Lawrence Dots a Pass to Washington for a 6-Yard TD

Published

on

HIGHLIGHT | Lawrence Dots a Pass to Washington for a 6-Yard TD


DE Dawuane Smoot, LB Foyesade Oluokun, TE Brenton Strange, S Eric Murray, and S Antonio Johnson  speak with the media after practice on Thursday ahead of the Wild Card Matchup vs. Bills.

0:00 – 2:28 – DE Dawuane Smoot

2:29 – 6:24 – LB Foyesade Oluokun

6:25 – 9:25 – TE Brenton Strange

Advertisement

9:26 – 11:32 – S Eric Murray

11:33 – 13:46 – S Antonio Johnson



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending