One beautiful rainbow nation

By Rap Lewis

Marshaled by more than 400 sponsoring organizations, tens of thousands of labor, civil rights and social justice advocates massed at the Lincoln Memorial October 2 for a powerful demonstration with the theme of “One Nation Working Together.”

The mighty gathering presented a rainbow of Black, Brown and white faces, in stark contrast to the virtually all ‐ white crowd pulled together August 28 by Fox News, the Tea Party and TV demagogue Glenn Beck.

“You look like one beautiful nation,” a radiant AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said, touching off a roaring ovation from a crowd that included thousands of Black, Latino and white union members in their brightly colored T-shirts, jackets and caps.

“We are together. This march is about power to the people,” said Ed Schultz, host of MSNBC’s “Ed Show.” “It is about the people standing up to the corporations. Are you ready to fight back?” Another roaring affirmative rose from the crowd, waving a sea of placards proclaiming “Hope not Hate,” “Healthcare not Warfare,” and “Jobs, not Tax Give-aways to the Rich.”

Speaking from the steps where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, condemned those who dole out “massive tax giveaways to the rich when fifty percent of our children are living in poverty.”

Citing the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark, Edelman said, “We’re all in the same boat. Don’t let our children be put in small, leaky boats. “Noah’s Ark was built by amateurs,” she reminded the crowd. “The Titanic was built by professionals.”
Trumka captured the mood of the huge throng when he said, “There is nothing, and I mean nothing, we can’t do when we stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder.
“We will stand together,” Trumka said, his voice ringing out loud and clear over the sea of faces. “And we will win together. And we won’t let anyone – and I mean anyone – stand in our way.