“This is not the time for self-congratulatory celebration….The fight must continue,” said Martin Luther King III, son of the famous African-American activist who 50 years ago made the historic “I have a dream” speech, and added that among other goals still waiting for America to achieve is an immigration reform to end the harassment suffered by “our brothers and sisters” and to provide them with a path to citizenship.
Though African-Americans were the overwhelming majority in a march that attracted tens of thousands of people to the heart of Washington, whites and Hispanics also attended an event that, in the words of Attorney General Eric Holder, had a much more integrated character than the one in 1963.
“Those who marched on Washington in 1963 had taken a long and difficult road. As we gather today, 50 years later, their march is now our march, and it must go on,” Holder said.