The 2020 March on Washington channels Martin Luther King Jr.?s dream, 57 years later

Then this week, another nationwide wave of protests broke out after Kenosha, Wisconsin, police shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake in the back multiple times, revitalizing the movement to get out into streets during a time when the physical, emotional, and economic health of Black Americans has disproportionately been impacted.The march — organized by Sharpton’s National Action Network along with the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Hispanic Federation, clergy groups, unions, and civil rights groups — will include speeches by Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and relatives of those killed by police, including Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, and others. After initial criticism from activists over the exclusion of families of local victims of police violence, several DC-based family members will also speak.Although organizers initially expected 100,000 protesters to attend the day of speeches at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, the district’s coronavirus quarantine travel restrictions ended up cutting that number in half. For those not able to be there in person, the event will be streamed online in full by the NAACP.This year’s march marks the 57th anniversary of King’s famous speech, which was attended by approximately 250,000 people.Originally conceived as a protest for jobs, the march quickly morphed into a wider protest for racial justice after a summer of police beatings of civil rights activists working against the disenfranchisement of Black voters.While King’s speech is most remembered for his iconic finish in which he laid out his vision for a future of racial equality in the US, he also spoke to the urgency of now — a lesson that can apply just as much today as it did back then.