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PAGE 12—The Georgia Bulletin, August 18,1983
Washington March: A Preview
Catholic Lay Speaker Remembers 1963
Demonstration in Atlanta in March of 1965.
BY JAMES B. BURKE
WASHINGTON (NC) -
The Catholic layman who
dared the 1963 March on
Washington to believe that
the United States could
end racial discrimination
within two decades says
now that he was
“optimistic.”
“There have been some
significant changes for
blacks since the march —
improved access to public
transportation and
lodging, and voting,” said
Mathew Ahmann,
associate director for
governmental relations of
the National Conference
of Catholic Charities.
“But some basic
problems have not
changed in the past 20
years,” he continued.
“Blacks are still not
allowed a full economic
role,” he said.
The economic situation,
in fact, is getting worse for
minorities, he said.
On Aug. 28, 1963,
Ahmann, the 32-year-old
director of the National
Catholic Conference for
Interracial Justice, shared
the podium at the Lincoln
Memorial with the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. and
addressed the
250,000-strong March on
Washington for Jobs and
Freedom.
A 20th Anniversary
March on Washington for
Jobs, Peace and Freedom
on Aug. 27 will
commemorate the 1963
march and protest current
unemployment, denial of
rights and the arms race.
Ahmann was the only
designated Catholic among
the 10 main speakers at
the 1963 march. Cardinal
Patrick O’Boyle, now
retired archbishop of
Washington, led the march
in prayer. Other bishops
attending were Cardinal
Lawrence Shehan and
Auxiliary Bishop T. Austin
Murphy of Baltimore,
Bishop John J. Russell and
then- Auxiliary Bishop
Ernest Unterkoefler of
Richmond, Bishop Michael
Hyle of Wilmington, Del.,
and then-Auxiliary Bishop
Philip M. Hannan of
Washington.
Ahmann said to the
march, “What man can say
this great country with its
democratic ideals, its vital
and resilient spirit, its
sophisticated resources
cannot bring an end to
racial discrimination at
home now, and within a
decade or two end the
other disabilities under
which, for so long, so
many Negro citizeps have
labored?”
Between 1960 and 1982
"\
the adult black male
population increased 92
percent, Ahmann said, but
employment of that
population increased only
42 percent.
There has also been a
“dramatic rise” in black
households headed by
women in the period, he
said.
‘‘As for quality
education and a decent
income for blacks, we’ve
been very negligent,” he
said, suggesting placards at
the 1963 march might
have better carried a
greater emphasis on “jobs”
than “freedom”’
“Without picking on
any one political leader,
the responsibility is ours,”
Ahmann said.
“Overall we have just
not done the job and the
problems are getting
worse,” he said.
BY JAMES B. BURKE
WASHINGTON (NC) -
Leaders of the 20th
anniversary March on
Washington say they will
revise their policy papers
to assure Jewish groups
that a Middle East plank is
not an attack on U.S.
military aid to Israel.
They also denied that
dissension over other
issues is brewing in the
ranks of the broad-based
New Coalition of
Conscience, which is
sponsoring the march Aug.
27.
In large urban areas,
resources are not
committed to “quality
education,” he said. He
pointed to an inner city
school in Chicago which
had no books.
“That sort of thing still
happens,” he said.
Regarding the labor
force, Ahmann faulted
“lots of tokenism.” He
encouraged the
Catholic support for the
march “looks good,”
according to a U.S.
Catholic Conference staff
member, and one Catholic
woman who participated
in the civil rights March on
Washington 20 years ago
recalls it “as a picnic with
the Lord.”
The March on
Washington for Jobs,
Peace and Freedom,
scheduled for Aug. 27, is
one part of a year-long
“mobilization” by the
New Coalition of
Conscience, which
includes civil rights, labor,
religious, peace,
environmentalist and
government to provide
young people and those
who might be excluded
from the labor force with
job training.
The Aug. 27 anniversary
march is coming none too
soon, according to
Ahmann.
“It’s certainly time to
say, ‘We had better do
something about these
problems,” he said.
women’s groups.
The coalition also plans
to develop support for a
legislative program on
jobs, peace and freedom.
The Rev. Martin Luther
King led the Aug. 26,
1963, March on
Washington for Jobs and
Freedom, which drew
more than 250,000
participants and was
telecast to millions across
the nation. The 1963
march is considered by
many to have been
instrumental in securing
passage of civil rights
legislation.
“My. r
greatest love
has
always been
the missions
of the Church.”
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen applied his special gifts to
making his greatest love the greatest love of every Catholic.
He believed in American Catholics, saying “they want to put
their faith to work.”
'83 March Set For August 27
Responding to his urging, they did—by supporting the missions
through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Bishop Sheen made
the missions a household word—he was a strong, clear voice reminding
us that “the world is dying for a little bit of love.”
The world is still dying for love, the love of Christ shared by His
mission Church. As Bishop Sheen did so many times, the Propagation of
the Faith calls on you for prayer and sacrifice: to give, not from your
“extras,” but from that which sustains you—in imitation of the total
sacrifice and love of Christ.
Yes! I want to give my love to the world through a genuine sacrifice for the
mission Church. Enclosed is my gift of:
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