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The speakers at the March who are affiliated with S-CAR are:
- Ángel Cabrera, President of George Mason University
- Michael Shank, PhD Alumnus, S-CAR; Director of Foreign Policy at FCNL, Adjunct Professor
- Johnny J. Mack, PhD Student, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
- Maneshka Eliatamby, Adjunct Professor, Alumna, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
- Jean Renold Altidor, Alumnus, M.S. School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
- Addishiywot Aseffa Girmammo, Alumnus, M.S., School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
- Joann Kim, Almuna, M.S., School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
- Mark Perez, M.S. Student, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
The 50th anniversary of the March on Washington social action campaign is an initiative that commemorates the 1963 march and calls attention to the work that still remains to be done 50 years on in 2013. Its vision is to establish a coalition of organizations who are committed to “a renewed fight,” and a sustained effort ensuring that previous gains survive the current attempt by some to roll them back and to press for new gains that help the United States of America “lives up to the true meaning of its creed.”
This year’s anniversaries of significant events of the civil rights movement may be used to accomplish three goals that serve to press for freedom, justice and equality. First, is to make this year of anniversaries a yearlong effort to bring attention to the issues that plague our nation today. Second, is to develop a program specifically for the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. This plan would be the culmination of the yearlong effort and the time to launch a long-term strategy for the renewed struggle. Third, is to develop the long-term strategy as for a national initiative. These goals are being fleshed out by the collaborative participation of organizations who participated in the 1963 march on Washington and others who have been historically part of the social movement in the US along with new organizations that have emerged in the recent past will join the 2013 coalition.
The 50th anniversary of the March on Washington August 24 program will include three objectives:
Objective A: March from the Lincoln Memorial to the King Memorial demonstrating the connection between ’63 and ’13: Commemorate the Past and Claim the Future.
Objective B: Organize a new coalition of organizations that links the traditional civil rights organizations and a new generation of leaders and organization (particularly those that are social media based).
Objective C: Take a renewed message of civil and human rights to Capital Hill and local legislatures, focusing on the “urgency on now” issues for this century.
Objective D: Energize local organize and reinvigorate the grassroots support by to achieve positive and sustainable social change in their local communities as well as nationally.
The focus of this year’s march is national action, with the commemoration of the March on Washington as a springboard for a nationwide campaign designed to take on issues such as poverty, jobs, racial and class inequality, and immigration that plague the US in 2013. The coalition of organizations envisions a yearlong strategy that is designed to tackle national and local issues in the spirit of the same nonviolent social action that won victories 50 years ago.
