The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in 1963, five years before I was born. I grew up in a very small, racist town (Shelbyville, Kentucky), so I take civil rights to heart.
Being an African-American female, the 1963 March on Washington left a bittersweet feeling. We still have to realize the dream. Some of the same issues and racism civil rights leaders marched for in 1963 still exist today.
This year, I was racially profiled and harassed at a reputable Central West End hotel. I was a guest using the public restroom when I was racially profiled and harassed by a white attendant. The white attendant asked me why I was using the restroom, who I was and how long I would be using the restroom. None of the white women using the restroom was questioned.
That experience took me back to the years of 1876-1965 when Jim Crow laws existed with separate restrooms for whites and blacks. It left me feeling humiliated. I felt stripped of all my dignity and rights as a citizen. I suffered from post-traumatic stress.
The hotel conducted a thorough investigation. They determined that I was racially profiled and harassed. The hotel apologized to me and made a commitment to provide more diversity training within the company.
In 1985 at age 17, I participated in the Upward Bound program in Kentucky. The program took a group of teenagers on a summer trip to visit different colleges and universities. We visited Berea College, and I will never forgot that day.
A group of African-American teenagers got off the bus to visit the college. It was like a little old country town with antique stores, candy shops and restaurants. It was around noon, and we were hungry. We begin to walk from the college to the stores in search of food and to shop.
As we approached each store, the white people fled and we were told the store was closed as the OPEN sign on the door was suddenly flipped to Sorry We Are CLOSED. Soon, all the stores were closed.
We were instructed to get back on the bus by our chaperones and instructors. I was so angry. That incident let me know I was not wanted there because of the color of my skin, which was one of many reasons why I left Kentucky at the age of 18 and never moved back.
In 1963 Dr. King told the crowd to go and continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. He said go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. I hope this march inspires others like myself to go back to St. Louis after the march and work together as a community to make St. Louis a better place to live for all citizens.
I am marching because I am not satisfied after 50 years of the continuation of racism, police brutality, racial profiling, lack of jobs, poverty, women making less than men, the Supreme Court dismantling the Voting Rights Act, environmental challenges, rising student loan rates and the school system failing our children.
I am marching to put an end to all the senseless killings, from black on black crime to police brutality, such as the case of Cary Ball, who was shot 25 times and killed by the St. Louis police in 2013. I am marching for the justice of Trayvon Martin, the unconstitutional stop and frisk law in New York, the Stand Your Ground law in Florida.
I concur with Dr. King that an injustice anywhere is a threat to injustice everywhere, and that is why I am standing up for justice by marching in Washington, D.C. on August 24, 2013.
