WASHINGTON
Struggle against racism messages will dominate this year's annual celebrations of the 63rd March on Washington to commemorate Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech on Saturday.
Americans are planning to give the start of a national movement to revitalize King's dream in Washington upon the latest developments that reflected unfinished tale of equality of races in US.
King, the most prominent leader of civil rights in US made his famous "I have a dream speech" in 1963 Washington march which became a turning point in African Americans' search for their rights. This Saturday hundreds of thousands will march to Washington to commemorate King and remind his "dream". Racism debates will mark this year's march due to the release of white-Hispanic George Zimmerman who murdered African-American Trayvon Martin in Florida.
Following King's speech in 1964, Civil Rights Act was enacted by the Congress, landmark piece of civil rights legislation that outlawed major forms of racist, ethnical and religious discrimination.
The same year King won Nobel Peace Prize which consolidated African Americans' efforts, while in 1965 Voting Rights Act was legislated aiming to overcome legal barriers at local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote.
-Equality, just a "dream" again?-
Last June, US supreme court struck down the part of the voting rights act that set a formula to determine which states, mostly the sourthern ones, needed to get US Justice Department approval before they made changes to election laws that affected voting rights. It said that the law relied on out of date assumptions that Congress needs to update.
Zimmerman's being declared innocent by Florida court in the same period with the change in the act, rekindled racism debates, causing wide range of protests in the country.
Latest developments brought about requestioning to what extent King's dream has come true in a way to start a new civil rights struggle.
The 63rd March on Washington and a week-long activities to be organized about counter-racism, including panels, conferences, trips and documentaries, are likely to be the most salient leg of anti-racism protests in US.
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