Tens of thousands of people marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and down the National Mall on Saturday, commemorating1 the 50th anniversary of King's famous speech and pledging that his dream includes equality for gays, Latinos, the poor and the disabled.
8月24日，大约10万美国民众从马丁·路德·金纪念碑游行至华盛顿国家广场，纪念马丁·路德·金发表《我有一个梦想》著名演说50周年，并誓言继承金的梦想，争取同性恋者、拉美裔、穷人和残疾人的平等权利。
The event was an
homage2（敬意，尊敬） to a generation of
activists3 that endured fire hoses, police abuse and
indignities4 to demand equality for African Americans. But there was a strong theme of unfinished business.
"This is not the time for
nostalgic（怀旧的） commemoration," said Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the
slain5 civil rights leader. "Nor is this the time for self-congratulatory celebration. The task is not done. The journey is not complete. We can and we must do more."
Eric
Holder6, the nation's first black attorney general, said he would not be in office, nor would Barack Obama be president, without those who marched.
"They marched in spite of animosity, oppression and
brutality7 because they believed in the greatness of what this nation could become and despaired of the founding promises not kept," Holder said.
Holder mentioned gays and Latinos, women and the disabled as those who had yet to
fully8 realize the
Rev9. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. Others in the crowd advocated organized
labor10, voting rights, revamping immigration policies and access to local post offices.
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the only surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington, railed against a recent
Supreme11 Court decision that effectively
erased12 a key anti-discrimination provision of the Voting Rights Act. Lewis was a leader of a 1965 march, where police beat and gassed marchers who demanded access to voting booths.
"I gave a little blood on that bridge in Selma, Ala., for the right to vote," he said. "I am not going to stand by and let the Supreme Court take the right to vote away from us. You cannot stand by. You cannot sit down. You've got to stand up. Speak up, speak out and get in the way."
Organizers expected about 100,000 people to participate in the event, the
precursor13 to the actual anniversary of the Aug. 28, 1963, march that drew some 250,000 to the National Mall and
ushered14 in the idea of massive, nonviolent
demonstrations15.
Marchers began arriving early Saturday, many staking out their spots as the sun rose in a clear sky over the Capitol. By midday, tens of thousands had gathered on the National Mall.
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