"More than 60 years have passed since that humid summer day when the Lincoln Memorial became a stage for American resolve-hundreds of thousands asserting their right to quality jobs, freedom, equality, dignity, and opportunity. The March on Washington was more than inspiration; it was an act of defiance, a refusal to accept exclusion as fate. Yet here we are, generations later, asking why that promise is still just out of reach."
"To honor 1963, let's start by naming the truth: economic insecurity and racial injustice in America are not accidental. They are structures built to last, designed and maintained by rules, decisions, and policies at every level. That structure, with its deep foundations and clever rebrandings, is still standing. An analysis by the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies outlines a litany of disparities."
More than sixty years after the March on Washington, economic insecurity and racial injustice remain entrenched through deliberate rules, decisions, and policies. The federal minimum wage in 2025 is $7.25, unchanged since 2009, far below the inflation-adjusted $21 demanded by marchers. Labor market structures concentrate Black workers in low-paying service jobs while white workers dominate management and professional roles. The racialized wealth gap has widened: in late 2024 average white households held roughly four times the wealth of Black households and five times that of Latino households. These disparities reflect decades of public and private policy choices shaping access to opportunity.
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