We do not mean to be facetious about an historic event that should make all Americans proud, but perhaps the indomitable spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had something to do with the postponement of the unveiling of the monument in his honor on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The unveiling had been scheduled for August 28, the 48th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. When an earthquake and Hurricane Irene forced a cancellation, some saw it as symbolic, given the profound suffering of millions of low-income Americans, a disproportionate number of them black, in this lingering recession. Some said too much hard work remained to be done to celebrate a monument to a great man who was killed with an unfinished dream of equality.
In the weeks that organizers – led by two African Americans from St. Louis, Harry Johnson Sr. and Ty Christian – rescheduled this enormously ambitious ceremony, there was change in America. Already by late August, the Occupy Wall Street movement had been discussed by some progressives, provoked by Vancouver-based Adbusters Media Foundation, though there was no action on the streets. But by the time this magnificent, 30-foot-tall monument to Dr. King was unveiled on Sunday, thousands of people had protested business as usual at Wall Street in New York City, and allied protests had flowered in hundreds of cities across the U.S. and around the globe.
For Dr. King, who was murdered when leading a Poor People’s Campaign, perhaps the time had ripened for his likeness to be unveiled and his memory to be revived.
President Obama spoke at the unveiling ceremony, mindful of the continuing need for a Poor People’s Campaign. “Millions are out of work, poverty is on the rise,” Obama said. “There are underfunded schools, constant violence and little hope and few prospects for the future. In too many troubled neighborhoods across the country, the conditions of our poorest citizens appear little changed from what existed 50 year ago. Our work is not done.”
On Sunday, the Rev. Al Sharpton led his Jobs and Justice March on the grounds of the Washington Monument, to coincide with the celebration of the MLK monument. Though the president’s comments on the importance of non-violent struggle was a tacit acknowledgment of the burgeoning Occupy Wall Street movement, Sharpton quoted directly from the movement’s vocabulary, which speaks of a revolution of “the 99 percent” against the “1 percent” that controls much of the wealth.
“We come here today because this country has ignored the plight of the unemployed and the chronically unemployed,” Sharpton said at the Jobs and Justice March. “It is not right that you have 14 million people unemployed and 1 percent of the population owns 30-40 percent of all of the country’s wealth.”
While an activist can be expected to quote other activists, it was remarkable to hear in the remarks by this community-organizer-turned-president what could be seen as coded words of encouragement for the Occupy Wall Street protestors.
“Change has never been without controversy. Change has never been easy or quick. We must remind ourselves that such progress did not come easily,” Obama said. “It came from the smack of billy clubs, and blasts of fire hoses, the nights of bomb threats. For every victory in the height of the Civil Rights Movement there were setbacks, there were defeats. So on this day when we celebrate a man and a movement that did so much for our country, let us draw strength from those earlier struggles.”
To which people like those who are making their feelings heard in the Occupy Wall Street movement should say, “Yes, sir! And amen.”
