Editorial Reflections

The march for freedom and justice continues

The March on Washington continues. It continued on Friday, Aug 28, on the 63rd anniversary of the march in 1963. It continued the days before that, and it continues the days after that.

We have fought hard for a better world for our children and their children. We have fought against discrimination, segregation and economic inequality. We have fought for justice and opportunity for everyone.

We still need voting rights, civil rights, economic rights, education rights, human rights, religious rights and immigration rights. We need legal rights to assure free speech, health care, gender equality, environmental protection, and access to food, clean water and a safe place to live.

If one person or one group lacks access, we all lack access. We are neighbors, friends and family, so we care when anyone is excluded, denied, dismissed, belittled, injured or killed because of their race, beliefs, gender, identity, health or immigration status.

All of our faiths call us to care and walk in solidarity with each other. All of our faiths call us to challenge those in power who would exclude, deny, dismiss, belittle, injure or kill our brothers or sisters.

We remember and celebrate the courage of those who marched in 1963 and have marched many days before and since then.

The focus this year, "Defend the Vote," is crucial as every day we read of efforts to change the election laws and processes, to suppress the vote by confusing people, redrawing congressional districts, changing mail-in voting policies in a power grab before the November midterm elections.

We must work to restore and update the Voting Rights Act to reaffirm and reestablish what has been eroded. We must challenge all threats to voting that are arising.

It is not a time to sit back and be silent, but to make our voices heard by making phone calls, speeches and visits, writing emails, texts and letters, joining marches, protests and vigils. It is a time to act.

As civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton said recently, "We are not coming to commemorate. We are coming to continue and fight in this day and hour."

Bernice King, the youngest child of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, reminded that her father's "I Have a Dream" speech called for the nation to fulfill its promises of justice, equality, freedom. She says that the dream "requires our participation."

Participation now means making sure everyone has the right to vote, access to polls and ballots, and keep the opportunity to voice their choices.

Leaders then and today come from faith communities because it's a moral, ethical and spiritual matter.

What will you do to make a difference, to give people their voices in these times?

Mary Stamp, Editor