Photo by Roosevelt WrigPtt, $r.
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Revisited
ECSU students
join thousands
in march on capital
The Reverend Jesse Jackson, former presidential candidate and civil rights activist, speaks to the
large crowds on the grounds of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.'
By Ursula McMillion
In a dramatic return to the 1960’s,
an estimated 100,000 civil rights ac
tivists marched on Washington, D.C.,
August 26 to protest a series of recent
Supreme Court decisions which have
we^ened affmnative action, eroded
protection against racial harassment,
and reduced minority job opportuni
ties.
Among the thousands were sev
eral students from Elizabeth City State
University, who boarded buses spon
sored by the Student Government
Association and the ECSU Chapter of
the NAACP at 4 a.m. to attend the
march.
Although the weather was hot and
humid and insects swarmed, ECSU
Vikings marched down Constitution
Avenue to protest the judicial retreat
on civil rights. Signs and banners
representing groups from coast to coast
seemed to express the pride and deter
mination in the air. The signs included
phrases such as “By our silence, ye
shall know we are determined,” “Keep
the dream alive,” and “Act now Con
gress—^what the court has tom asun
der let the Congress set right.
“What 1 found to be most inspira
tional was my people are here and are
concerned and not just a bunch of
cheese-eating Uncle Toms,” said
ECSU senior Darrin Adams. “I only
hope that more African Americans
will wake up!”
“I was drawn to the march because
I could no longer ignore the unsaid
racial tension that permeates our
country,” ECSU English professor Dr.
Glenda Davis told a reporter for The
Washington Post.
Davis said that when she was a
college student protesting against
prejudice in the late 1950’s,“weknew
what we couldn’t do and how others
felt about us. But now so much of the
tension is hidden...and what the Su
preme Court did is symbolic of the
change in racial relations, with so
much bubbling beneath the surface.”
“I participated in, and was a part of
this historical event along with many
‘‘The march was very powerful and
left me with feelings of pride and dignity. It
showed me that if we only unite with our minds
set...there's nothing we cannot do'’
Uchenna Bulliner
of my brothers and sisters here at
ECSU,” said SGA president Karen
Richardson. “Thisexperience showed
me that the people of my race can
come together and accomplish things
other than dancing and partying.”
Following the march, many of the
nation’s leading civil rights leaders
spoke to the marchers on the grounds
of the capitol.
The leaders included the Reverend
Jesse Jackson, NAACP Executive
Director and march coordinator, Dr.
Benjamin Hooks, Dr. Joseph Lowery
of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, Lane Kirkland of the
AFL-CIO and Rosa Parks, whose
refusal to give up her seat to a white
man in 1955 was the catalyst for the
Montgomery bus boycott.
Reverend Jackson delivered a pas
sionate statement on the the Supreme
Court’s efforts to turn the clock back
the to civil liberties of 25 years ago.
“To allow law to function in such a
color blind fashion is not to be color
blind at all,” said Jackson. “It is to be
blind to history... and to the present.”
Jackson ended his speech with a
corresponding chant between himself
and the marchers. “Actnow congress! ”
exhorted Jackson and the crowd re
sponded with “Do the right thing!”
Hooks inspired the crowd with a
ringing speech on the civil rights
struggle.
“We are not going to let five men in
black robes do what the Ku Klu Klan
could not do in white ones,” he said.
After returning to the buses ECSU
students said they had gained much
knowledge and inspiration from the
march.
“The march proved that if blacks
and other minorities organize them
selves in a non-violent manner, much
can be accomplished,” said freshman
Thaje Padgett.
“Nothing could compare to the
thousands of people, white and black
standing together as one today on
Washington D.C,” said senior Carol
Brown.
“We being a people of color stood
together, marched together, spoke
together and our voices were heard
and our rights will not be denied,” said
Wilshawnda Sirmans.
“The march was very powerful and
left me with a feeling of pride and
dignity,” said junior UchennaBulliner.
“It showed me that if we only unite
with our minds set on achieving our
goals, there’s nothing we cannot do.
“Many of us used this event as a
source to revive our inspiration, but to
me this should be a way of life,”
Bulliner continued. “We should march
every day within and outside our
communities with the same strength,
pride and dignity. Never mind com
ing to Washington, D.C., let’s start
within ourselves.”
The NAACP Silent March on
Washington protested four decisions,
which civil rights advocates say have
struck blows against hardeamed civil
rights gains. One ruling, civil rights
advocates say, makes it much more
difficult to prove discrimination in
hiring; another decision, from a Bir
mingham, Alabama case, weakness
affirmative action.
NAACP Director Benjamin Hooks
has called these four rulings, “The
legal lynching of black America’s
hope...to become full partners in the
American dream.”
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Pholo by Roosevelt Wright, Sr.
. ^ The aroup from Elizabeth City included student and city mennbers of the NAACP. Pictured in this scene
onl^e Sal ffie Mrs MyfJe KSSs, Urfufa NAACP President, Darrin Adams. Uchenna Bulliner, Beverly Johnson and other Viking Family marchers.
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