Or the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther (the) King, Jr’s birthday OR EVEN FEBRUARY for that matter and here I am: Talking about ML(t)K, Jr AND Black History. WHY AM I HERE?
Great Question! Because (someone sent me this fact with no comment and I took the hint and decided to commemorate this History Fact with a little email) today marks 62 years since the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom/ March on Washington/”I Have a Dream (or is it a Beautiful Nightmare)” speech!
The March has been credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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I feel like today*, as in 2025, as in sixty-two years ago from the original occurrence is a GREAT DAY to not just talk about the goals of this march, but also how far we’ve come! As a special treat, and because y’all know I like to show my work – I added links. But, because I love you (I do), I gave you a TL;DR version of where we at in parenthesis so that you don’t have to read the links unless you want to. You’re welcome.
- Passage of meaningful civil rights legislation; (Not under his eye.)
- Immediate elimination of school segregation; (Technically schools were never really NOT segregated ‘cause racially segregated neighborhoods have historically made for racially segregated schools BUT also, what if we dropped desegregation cases in the South and made it officially official?)
- A program of public works, including job training, for the unemployed; (US Department of Labor “pausing” job corps center)
- A Federal law prohibiting discrimination in public or private hiring; (AKA “y’all can’t find a white person for this job?”)
- A $2-an-hour minimum wage nationwide (equivalent to $21 in 2024);(Fun Fact: It took until 1974 for the federal min wage to get to $2. In 2025, FEDERAL minimum wage is $7.25. State minimum wages vary with the highest being DC at $17.95. So what I’m saying is if minimum wage isn’t even the equivalent of what it woulda been in 2024)
- Withholding Federal funds from programs that tolerate discrimination; (47 withholds federal funds if schools have
anti-whiteDEI programs)
- Enforcement of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution (ICE is violating citizen’s human rights, ESPECIALLY denying people “life, liberty, or property without due process of law”)
- A Fair Labor Standards Act broadened to include employment areas then excluded; (“What if instead of paying adults to do this job, we underpay literal CHILDREN whose parents are most likely migrants/immigrants and quite possibly undocumented so they can’t report us, to do this dangerous job so we can keep our profit margin high?”)
- Authority for the Attorney General to institute injunctive suits when constitutional rights of citizens are violated. ( *breaking the fourth wall to stare directly into your soul* THIS ONLY WORKS IF THE OTHER SIDE IS PLAYING BY THE SAME RULES FOLKS)
I dunno guys. I feel like maybe we didn’t get as far as one would hoped. Maybe it’s because people don’t want freedom and equality and living wages, or civil rights. Or maybe the wheel of justice just moves slowly when one of the political parties has been actively trying to move it backwards to when “america was great” and you could enslave people. WHO’S TO SAY?
Certainly not me. I’m just here to share facts (and sometimes songs).
** Yes. I know it was actually yesterday. I STARTED this email yesterday, but I finished it today because sometimes even though I want to procrastinate, I can’t! Big Wheel keep on turnin’, IIIII gotta keep on workin’!
See y’all again the next time I feel like saying hello and sharing some facts with y’all. Or February. Whichever comes first.
Yeah I said it 