The park service no longer counts crowds on the National Mall. And, for the organizers of the fortieth anniversary of the March on Washington, that's a good thing, because last week's turnout was miserable. In 1983, the march's twentieth anniversary drew 250,000. The thirtieth garnered 75,000. And this year? Twenty thousand, at best.
Why the diminishing interest? Perhaps because, in arguably the most important civil rights battle of the year, the civil rights groups are awol. That battle, contrary to what one might assume from the speakers at the march, isn't being fought in Iraq; it's being fought in Alabama. And it's not being led by Kweisi Mfume or Jesse Jackson; it's being led by a conservative Republican named Bob Riley.
| Continue Peter Beinart's New Republic essay "Eyes on the Prize"
posted in articles on August 29, 2003 7:25 PM | t (0)
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