RGV voices reflect on MLK Jr., minority rights 50 years after March on Washington

Source: The Brownsville Herald, TexasAug.迷你倉新蒲崗 28--As a 19-year-old, Eduardo Roberto Rodriguez did not know he would be witnessing history when he participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.A student at George Washington University, Rodriguez, now 69, wasn't supposed to be at the march.As an elevator operator at the Capitol, Rodriguez was given the day off in anticipation of violent outbreaks from marchers."There was a lot of fear in the Capitol that it would deteriorate and that it would become violent," Rodriguez said.Regardless of those expectations, Rodriguez, now a lawyer in Brownsville, said he chose to be part of the movement."I believed in the right of all," Rodriguez said. "I believed in the movement. I thought it was important that all people have the right to participate in our country fully."During the course of the day Rodriguez said he heard many speeches, but it was a young clergyman's speech that really caught Rodriguez's ear."That day you heard a lot of speeches and this one stood out after he started reflecting on it," Rodriguez said of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech.Rodriguez, of course, referred to the famous moment King went off script:"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," King said to a massive audience 50 years ago.In a remembrance ceremony, President Barack Obama will take the stage at the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday, making an ode to King and reciting his own speech.Though it's been 50 years, Mark Kaswan said the speech remains relevant because of its influence on legislation that until recently was part of today's lexicon."The kinds of issues and concerns that the March on Washington was directed toward are still very present," said Kaswan, a government professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville. "One of the consequences or outcomes (of the march) was the Voting Righ迷你倉出租s Act."In June, the Supreme Court decided to overturn a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, a move that ultimately left the law with no authority to monitor problematic counties where voter discrimination occurred in the past."Within two hours the attorney general of Texas instituted voter ID requirements that the federal court had found were fundamentally flawed and would have discriminatory impact," Kaswan said.Though the sponsors of these measures would never admit it, Kaswan said the new procedures are discriminatory."One of the things here is if you look at the number of people that would be disenfranchised," he said, "they are overwhelmingly members of minority groups."Another policy that is a result of the march, Kaswan said, is affirmative action -- which has largely been dismantled during the past 20 years."There were certainly problems with affirmative action; it wasn't a perfect solution," Kaswan said, "but unfortunately, it was replaced with nothing."Kaswan, who will help lead a presentation at UTB about the march and the speech, said he wants students to understand that the struggles of 1963 are still present in today's world."We are still far from a goal of a society in which people are judged by their character instead of the color of their skin," he said.Kaswan also wants to teach students that they should be politically active -- whether they raise their voices or vote in a district that has a low voter turnout rate."They need to raise their voices, they need to be active," Kaswan said.For Rodriguez, the march was a remarkable moment in his life, he said.He said that experience taught him to participate in his community and to give back to others."It helped to shape what I became and what I have done," Rodriguez said.mmontoya@brownsvilleherald.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 The Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Texas) Visit The Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Texas) at .brownsvilleherald.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉