Hello everyone!

I am Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, representing the 11^th District of Ohio and serving as the 23^rd Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

It is so good to join the hundreds of thousands of you who are gathered here today.

I’d like to acknowledge my fellow Congressional Black Caucus Members [pause].

And I’d like to particularly acknowledge Congressman John Lewis who at just 23 years old, stood here at the Lincoln Memorial with Dr. King as Chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.

We honor you today Mr. Lewis. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to freedom, justice and equality for all.

I’d also like to thank the Rev. Al and his National Action Network, along with the many other individuals and organizations who came together to make this day and this celebration possible.

Today we remember that as children of the Civil Rights Movement, we have lived and seen many successes in our plight to ensure everyone has access to the American Dream.

But my friends, the American Dream is in danger.

We are not in a post racial society.

You see, the fight for civil rights today looks a little different than it did 50 or 60 years ago.

But many African Americans, people of color, and people living in rural and urban communities continue to face the challenges that those we celebrate today dedicated their lives to overcome.

The very foundation on which our democracy was built has been usurped by the Supreme Court of these United States.

We’re seeing the erosion of economic opportunity and the chance for every individual in this country to achieve their full potential slip away right before our eyes.

Equal protection under the law is still beyond the reach of too many in our communities.

You see civil rights for all is still unfinished business.

The efforts we’ve seen this year to turn back the clock MUST fire up the civil rights movement of today.

I’m here to remind you that today we must work harder to stay aware of what’s going on.

Our civil rights pioneers and community leaders didn’t bring us this far to leave us now.

They didn’t bring us this far for you to sit down either.

We have to stay on the battlefield. 

That is the only way we will truly honor the rich legacy of African Americans in this country and those of all races who stood together at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.

If we don’t honor them, we choose to forget what many fought and died for, and we allow their efforts to go in vain.

If you continue to do your part in your community and continue to hold us accountable to our commitment to you, the fight won’t be easy, but, together, we will NOT fail. We will WIN!

As we celebrate and thank the mothers and the fathers of the civil rights movement today, I leave you with words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “The time is always right to do what is right.”

The time for us to do what’s right is NOW.

Thank you everybody and I’ll see you at the monument.