By interns Elana Levitan and David Longo
Photo credit: Haley Schiffer
50 years ago, thousands of people gathered for the March on Washington to listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. give his famous “I have a dream” speech. This Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of this momentous occasion, leading people from across the world to gather in Washington D.C. to hear President Barack Obama speak. On August 27th, 2013, NYU hosted a discussion with a panel of four affluent African Americans speaking on the topic of civil rights.
Mediating the discussion was Monroe France, the very dashingly dressed VP of student diversity at NYU. On the panel alongside France was Michaela Angela Davis, a prominent stylist for celebrities such as Oprah and Beyoncé as well as an editor for magazines such as Essence and Vibe. Michaela was the first to speak, expressing her feelings on our country moving forward on the fight against hatred towards race, genders, and sexuality.
Monroe France and Michaela Angela Davis
After Davis’ opinion came Earl Fowlkes, the CEO and president of the Center for Black Equity. Fowlkes informed the audience that he was able to witness the commotion of the march first hand, inspiring him to become the black activist he is today. This momentous event was hard to comprehend for Fowlkes at his young age, but was later explained to by his mother what was going on.
Earl Fowlkes (center)
Next came the ever-so-spunky Mandy Carter who abruptly opened with the statement that “by 2050, this country will be majority people of color”, then later continued to talk about America’s true past with Native Americans and the struggles the minorities in this country have faced. In 1963, American citizens stood up, fought and planned for their rights to help us make the progress that our country currently holds. Carter then reminds the audience that we still live in a country of racism and sexism, but are currently making strides for a better future.
Mandy Carter (left)
Last but certainly not least to speak was Darnell L. Moore, a world-renowned activist who has done L.G.B.T. work in Israel and Palestine, has done work against feminism and has been famously published multiple times. “Urgency of now” is a phrase Darnell constantly repeats, meaning that these problems are remaining in our country and action must be taken at this time. He talks about the urgency we have with poverty, the unemployed and even with racial profiling. 50 years ago there was an “urgency of now” (The March On Washington), and now others in our day and age need to take that step as well.
Darnell L. Moore
The civil rights movement has made amazing strides over the last 50 years but the work is not done. There are people still being oppressed, denied and stripped of their rights deserved as an American citizen. Sitting through this discussion filled the audience with a sense of pride and passion, giving us the courage to stand up for the dilemmas in our current day and age. This conference opened minds to ideas that had never been brought to attention before. All the speakers were applauded for successfully displaying their appealing opinions on the topic.
