Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream "in the process of becoming real," Rep. John Lewis says

[struggle4progress]

August 25, 2013 10:39 AM
Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream "in the process of becoming real," Rep. John Lewis says
By Lindsey Boerma

... "He'd be grateful to see an African American as president of the United States: 'It's almost unreal, unbelievable,' Dr. King would have said," according to Lewis ... "If Dr. King could speak to us, he would say, 'We've come a distance. We've made a lot of progress. You're in the process of laying down the burden of race. But we're not there yet.'"

Lewis recalled his and King's meeting in 1963 with then-President John F. Kennedy: "A. Philip Randolph, one of the leaders during that period, spoke up and said, 'Mr. President, the masses are restless... And we're going to march on Washington.' And you can tell by the body language of the president he, sort of started moving and twisting, and he said, 'Mr. Randolph, if you bring all these people to Washington, won't there be violence and chaos and disorder? We will never get a civil rights bill through the Congress'" ...

Lewis said he was "shocked" at Justice Antonin Scalia's assessment that the provision the court struck down perpetuated "racial entitlement." But he specifically singled out former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who introduced the act in 1965, as having "never gotten the credit that he should have received."

"The night he gave that speech, it was the most meaningful speech any American president had made in modern time on the whole question of voting rights or civil rights," Lewis said. "And when he concluded that speech, he said, 'And we shall overcome.' Dr. King cried. I was sitting next to him; I cried. He introduced that bill and the Congress passed it. And 48 years later, the Supreme Court gutted. It put a dagger in the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965" ...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57600004/martin-luther-king-jr.s-dream-in-the-process-of-becoming-real-rep-john-lewis-says/

[Cha]

1. Thank you, struggle..

"The night he gave that speech, it was the most meaningful speech any American president had made in modern time on the whole question of voting rights or civil rights," Lewis said. "And when he concluded that speech, he said, 'And we shall overcome.' Dr. King cried. I was sitting next to him; I cried. He introduced that bill and the Congress passed it. And 48 years later, the Supreme Court gutted. It put a dagger in the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965" ..".


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