A mandate for the post-civil rights generation

Crisis, The, Jul/Aug 2003 by Sanders, Malika Asha

More than 200 years ago, "America's founding fathers" designed a republic granting inalienable rights to a few and oppression to many. This democracy was intended for White, male, landowners. Not until the uprisings led by civil rights-era freedom fighters did this nation have its first chance at real democracy.

This vision for a truly democratic America was shaped by the efforts and sacrifices of everyday people. It was the tired feet of maids during the Montgomery bus boycott; the voices of children singing freedom songs in "Bombingham," Ala.; and the commitment of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee workers like Diane Nash and Bob Moses, who braved dark, dangerous Southern roads where death lingered, that gave this ideal momentum. This vision, called the Beloved Community by Martin Luther King Jr., appeared within reach at the 1963 March on Washington.

Women and men of diverse hues, young and old, rich and poor, from the North and South, came together, marching 250,000 strong to offer a new vision for America. It was as if this hope for equality had filled them with light, even while their day-to-day experience of American Democracy was one of darkness.

Now, 40 years later, the light ignited by the first March on Washington is dim. Many of those who marched in 1963 underestimated the adversaries of peace, jobs and freedom. As a result, the efforts of those working strategically to restore pre-civil rights-era America have proliferated. This contingent - namely the conservative right - is well-organized, determined and amazingly religious.

This resolve has led to attacks on the poor, affirmative action and civil liberties, and the confirmation of controversial judges who will uphold their agenda. Add to this mix the fact that Black unemployment is almost double that of the overall population; astronomic numbers of Blacks are in prisons; and more than 11 million American children live in poverty in the richest country in the world.

Yet, there are still many young people in the hip-hop generation who do not understand the need and purpose of continuing the fight for freedom.

I am among the first generation of Southern-born Africans in America to inherit the long denied birthright to live without the noose of slavery and Jim Crow around my neck. My generation has the daunting task of beginning a new phase of African American history: cleaning up the fallout from nearly 400 years of oppression. But we face major obstacles in ushering in this new chapter in our history.

How can we fight these obstacles to freedom? First, for my generation to address the problems of yesteryear effectively, passing H.R. 40, a bill calling for a study of reparations, is imperative. We must all know the truth about the evils of slavery and Jim Crow and the greatness of African civilization. Even today, many African American children attend schools that teach a version of U.S. history which barely acknowledges their ancestors. The lies of hatred and oppression must be dispelled if we are to create new possibilities for all children.

We must take to the streets to demand a new social order - one that is inclusive, honors each nation's right to self-determination and acknowledges that America's riches were built by all of her inhabitants and, therefore, must be shared accordingly.

We must organize block by block for reparations, quality public schools, a living minimum wage and a more inclusive hate crimes bill.

We must organize against the prison industrial complex, policies that promote homeland "insecurity" and pre-emptive strikes against sovereign nations.

And we must resolve to resist oppression in every form it takes.

Then, and only then, in spite of continued oppression, will a new day come. My generation's charge, 40 years after the March on Washington, is to stop dreaming about the Beloved Community and make it a reality.

Malika Asha Sanders is the president of the 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement, based in Selma, Ala., and a coordinator of the March on Washington Anniversary and Protest March (www.marchonwashington.org) on Aug. 23, 2003, in Washington, D.C.