Written by Michael Monarrez
With UCF’s 5th-decade Anniversary in June still fresh in mind, we come upon another grand Golden Anniversary.
That of the Civil Rights March on Washington. We’ve all seen the banners around campus, the decals on cars, and the images of past and present change on the main website, but how do we memorialize the great struggle made before us to secure equal protections for so many?
UCF has changed reputably over the last 50 years by including more majors, growing in size and community, and also in diversity. This could have been possible only by leaders of the University whose vision carried it to become one of the greatest, and most populated universities in the country. That being said, the greatest civil rights leaders of the 1960’s banded together in hopes of starting a movement for a new America.
It was August 28th, 1963. More than 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., to protest for freedom from racial segregation and discrimination that took place for so long in our country. Though what was more fundamentally at stake was the privilege of being equal in society. People of all ages and races—about one-quarter of the protesters were white—stood together, forming an ocean of support against the oppressive legislation and culture of that time. The 1-mile walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument was taken on by these people. Surely, they all supported the cause for such a demonstration. Surely, they all saw each other not for their complexion, but for the humanity shared within them all.
Peter, Paul and Mary’s song, “If I Had a Hammer,” performed in front of the largest crowd to have ever formed in the District of Columbia, has always moved me to tears. Of course, I wasn’t there to enjoy their performance live, but I have seen it many times on Youtube. Superficially, I thought I enjoyed the video so much as an expression of my affinity for vintage. However, over time I realized it wasn’t the clothes, sunglasses, and monochromaticity that I enjoyed as much as it was the fervent solidarity shared among the people at the March that day.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous, “I Have a Dream,” speech was given that day in front of this wave of progressives. His words continue to reverberate into modern times, “That one day this nation will rise up, [and] live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”
Rise, we have. Now, equality seems to be a right notably respected. Although we are still progressing forward with the good-fight for equality for all, we are moving closer everyday.
As my personal commemoration to this historically-significant event, I say this to my generation and to the ones to come, “Stay true to your values, continue living in harmony with the siblings of your species, and never forget how far we have come, or else we cannot persevere forward.”
