On Saturday, October 2, exactly one month before voters head to the polls for the midterm elections, tens of thousands of progressive activists from across the country converged at the Lincoln Memorial to take part in the One Nation Working Together March on Washington.
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They took buses from Philadelphia and carpooled from Santa Fe. They were old and young, black and white, Hispanic and Asian. The 400-plus groups in attendance represented agendas ranging from the environment to religion, unions to LGBT rights. But when Ed Schultz, the host of MSNBC’s “The Ed Show,” took the stage before what the event organizers estimate to have been 175,000 people and shouted, “Are you America?”, he was answered with a resounding “Yes!”
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Hoping to countering the mass mobilization of the Tea Party movement and to narrow the enthusiasm gap, One Nation served as a liberal antidote to the Glenn Beck rally that took place at the Lincoln Memorial just five weeks before. But organizers say that One Nation was planned in April, well before the Restoring Honor rally was announced.
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The four hour program–composed of speeches, poetry, musical performances and readings of historical speeches–was broken into three segments, highlighting jobs; justice; and public education and civil rights. Headliners included Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, singer Harry Belafonte and activist leaders such as Richard Trumka.
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But for many, the rally began well before they arrived at the Mall. Activists filled the early morning Metros with chants and the sounds of vuvuzelas (much to the chagrin of other DC commuters), clinging to signs and wearing colorful shirts denoting their groups’ affiliation. These brightly colored tees later seemed to paint the periphery of the reflecting pool, as ralliers stood under a cloudless DC sky.
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The hunger for fundamental change rumbled throughout the Mall. “We need America to deal with the issue of jobs,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, receiving perhaps the loudest cheers of the afternoon. “We bailed out the banks. We bailed out the insurance companies. And now it is time to bail out the American people.”
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“The water is high for many communities around this country but you don’t drown from high water, you drown when you stop kicking,” said NAACP president Benjamin Jealous in an interview with The Nation. “What we’re saying to people is you’ve got to keep on kicking. You’ve got to stay focused. We’ve come too far to turn back now. The way we keep on moving is to stay engaged.”
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