On the 63rd anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, thousands return to Washington, D.C., to follow in Dr. King’s footsteps. Decades ago, civil rights leaders were marching for America to fulfill its promise to African Americans.
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On this date in 1963, Dr. King said, in part, during his I Have A Dream Speech:
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.
We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
In 2026, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) stood on the same ground and pointed out that the original movement gave Americans a piece of freedom, but we are now fighting to afford it.
Ocasio-Cortez expressed the vision for what must come next.
