Students Mobilize for a New March on Washington

Sixty years ago this weekend, an estimated 250,000 people gathered on the National Mall to demonstrate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans in the famed March on Washington. At the protest, which is credited with playing a role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Civil Rights and union leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., at the March on Washington on August 23, 1963Although progress has undoubtedly come in the ensuing decades, recent years have brought roadblocks. The Voting Rights and Fair Housing Acts have been gutted, as have the right to abortion and affirmative action. America has a yawning Black-white wealth gap and an epidemic of police violence. Hate crimes are up, and LGBTQ+ protections are being chipped away. And King’s speech is often twisted in service of arguments for race blindness or “neutrality.”

With this in mind, civil rights leaders have organized a new March on Washington for August 26^th, under the banner “Not a Commemoration, A Continuation.” Much like the March 60 years ago, one of the key constituencies will be students.

Reverend Al Sharpton, president and founder of the National Action Network, the civil rights organization that is spearheading the new March, said that the participation of college students and young people is critically important given the recent assaults on affirmative action and the Supreme Court’s decision to reject student loan debt relief.

“They will live under these decisions longer than many of us convening the march,” said Sharpton, adding that the “erosion of voting rights” and restrictions on a woman’s right to choose should mobilize young people to vote their interest in the 2024 presidential election.  

“Where has the reaction been to these assaults?” asked Sharpton, who added that the attacks on higher education have occurred over the last few months, prompting a greater need for a response. “There has been no collective action.”

Sharpton said that dozens of buses from colleges and universities from across the nation will be traveling to Washington, D.C. this weekend, and higher education leaders—including many college presidents—are planning to join their students.