WARREN, Ohio - The 60th year of the March on Washington is being celebrated, and introduced to new generations.

 

In Warren, Second Baptist Church invited the community to the Warren Amphitheater to remember those who paved the way for freedoms and opportunities since that march in 1963. 

 

And yet there is still a long road ahead. 

 

In Warren, at this Freedom Sings celebration, the Harambee dancers performed at this event

to remember the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.

 

The word Harambee means "all pull together."  During that march, civil rights leaders and up to 300,000 people pulled together voices in unison calling for an end to inequities faced by Black Americans. 

 

On January 25, 1941, renowned labor leader A. Phillip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Union, made the official call for a march on Washington, with the demand to end segregation in defense industries.

 

The March on Washington in 1963 evolved into a collaborative effort among major civil rights groups and icons.

 

During that March Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous, "I Have a Dream," speech in our nation's capital. 

 

"We are commemorating that march and reminding ourselves of the hope and the dream as explained to us and proclaimed to us, that dream and how we can move that dream forward," Reverend Todd Johnson, Pastor at Second Baptist Church said. 

 

"This was not the first time he shared the message. He had another speech prepared.

 Mahalia Jackson, an American gospel singer, encouraged him to share his vision or I Have a Dream message that he had talked about in Detroit. But this time Reverend Dr. King was on a court filled with people. He cast that vision to inspire us all to have a dream, to have a vision, to have hope, and to aspire to bring about the beloved community, Dr. King espoused, Reverend Lewis Macklin, Pastor of Holy Trinity Baptist Church, said. 

 

"The March on Washington was not just for blacks only, It was an opportunity of solidarity of many faith expressions, many ethnicities, and diversity because they all believe as Dr. Martin Luther King, that their children and their children's children should be judged by the quality of their character and not by the color of their skin," Reverend Lewis Macklin, Pastor of Holy Trinity Baptist Church in Youngstown, said. 

 

Second Baptist Church hosted the free event at Warren's Amphitheater. 

 

Students and former students from Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past students and former students who are in college at YSU, presented details about the march and played video clips of speakers from that march.

 

Pastor Tod Johnson says progress has been made in so many areas, but there's a long road ahead to address systemic issues across society, and hate.

 

"Unfortunately we are seeing the rise of hate crimes, and racially motivated acts of terror against people of color, against black people, and I feel that just reinvigorates the need in us to fight harder, shout louder, and make sure people understand the fight is not over," Pastor Todd Johnson emphasized.

 

This week a 21-year-old white man murdered three Black people at a Dollar General store. He targeted them and left hate-filled, racist bigoted writings. 

 

Earlier the Jewish Community Center hosted civil rights attorney Peter Geffen, who worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. He says remembering the civil rights movement is important since that dream is still not real for everyone. 

 

"We have to live our lives in a fight against injustice, inequity, violence, hatred, racism and that's just part of the territory. We don't live in a paradise, we live in reality," Geffen emphasized. 

 

Reverend Macklin said Dr. King gave his speech at that event three years before he was born.

 

The pastor believes it's important to pass this message on to your children, your children's children, and their friends in the community so they know we are all part and parcel of the ultimate vision Dr. King had for our communities. 

 

The event in Warren featured a Freedom Soul Concert which featured Arielle and Friends.