Watch the video version of County Executive Pittman’s remarks here.
I am honored to recognize the bravery and the service to our country exhibited fifty-seven years ago today by twenty-four living residents of Anne Arundel County who were among the group listed on this Foot Soldiers Memorial.
These were everyday people who were volunteering their time, risking their personal safety, and in some cases putting their own livelihoods at risk by aligning themselves with a movement that many in power were describing as a threat.
Many politicians of the day said that the movement for racial justice was an expression of lawlessness, a radical left alliance that must be stopped. But it grew.
Smart organizers, talented leaders, and most importantly millions of Americans from every race and social status either mobilized or sympathized. Five months after the March on Washington President Johnson introduced the War on Poverty. Two years later Congress passed the Voting Rights Act.
After a forty year experiment in trickle down economics, supported politically by an unholy merger of insatiable corporate greed with white supremacist fear, our people are once again mobilizing for racial justice.
Jacob Blake and his kids matter. Black lives matter. And for people who don’t like those three words to be used together, get used to it.
Disparities in health, wealth, and opportunity are getting worse, not better. The federal government is once again sending troops to cities where peaceful protesters are demanding progress. Police officers are being pressured to take sides in a culture war that is driven by politicians and for-profit media conglomerates.
As we look back on the March on Washington, most Americans recognize that it was a unity march. It was good Americans reminding one another of the values that make America strong and that make all communities strong. It was about justice - for all.
As we face an election season in which millions of dollars are being spent to divide us, let’s all of us remember the lessons of the civil rights movement and of the March on Washington.
Let’s take a deep breath and remember, that at the end of the day, we all want the same thing: peace, security, and an opportunity to live a good life in a connected community.
God bless the Anne Arundel County foot soldiers of 1963 and God bless the Anne Arundel County foot soldiers of 2020.