‘American Dream’ Not Realized for Too Many
26 August 2013
“The promise is not real for people who work hard and play by the rules every single day, yet struggle to pay the bills,” President Saunders told an audience stretching from the Lincoln Memorial, rising majestically behind him, to the World War II memorial in the far distance. “The promise is not real for retirees who worked hard all their lives but don’t know how they’ll make it day to day. The promise is not real for students who graduate under so much debt, they wonder if they’ll ever climb out of it. And if the promise is not real for all of us, it is not real for any of us.”
AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders addresses the crowd at the ‘Realize the Dream March and Rally’ on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah)
Sharing the stage with President Saunders was Martin Luther King, III, eldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who spoke of his father’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The historic speech was given at the 1963 rally, which became a catalyst for passage of the Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.