Chicago, IL
This year marks the 37th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, organized by the late A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, with significant support from the labor movement.
The 1963 march, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the historic "I Have a Dream" speech, was the major impetus for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and for the pursuit of economic justice and freedom from oppression and injustice.
In the tradition of labor's historic struggle to end discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, age, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, the AFL-CIO supports its allies in the "Redeem the Dream" march scheduled for August 26, 2000, at the Lincoln Memorial.
Respect for law and order is the cornerstone of a free society, and this year's event will be used to focus on the issues of police brutality and racial profiling.
The AFL-CIO continues to fight any and all forms of discrimination and seeks the just and equitable society that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke so eloquently of when he said, "we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men (women) are created equal."
We encourage all national and international unions and their members to support the ideals and goals of this event, and to reaffirm the commitment of the union movement to the crusade for greater civil, social and economic rights.