Aug 5, 2013 3 min read

To Phyllis Waller, the upcoming 50th anniversary of the March on Washington is not just a commemorative event. If Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists laid the foundation for equal opportunity in 1963, then Waller and other leaders are continuing to pave that path well into 2013.

“At the original march, the message was for civil liberty, civil rights, economic freedom for all,” said Waller, second vice president of her local NAACP branch and a state executive committee member. “We’re marching on the 50th anniversary for the same thing.”

For the first time, the Washington chapter of the NAACP is sponsoring a bus trip to the nation’s capital Aug. 24 to participate in a rally at the Lincoln Memorial and a march to the King Memorial. The bus will leave at 3 a.m. from the NAACP office at 68 Highland Ave. Bus tickets are $25 per person, and Wednesday is the last day to sign up.

The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – which was actually held Aug. 28 – drew more than 250,000 people. Many remember it as the historic moment when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech.

Waller’s grandmother, Hattie Waller, and father, Louis E. Waller, a civil rights leader from Washington, both attended the original March on Washington. Waller is excited to continue this tradition by bringing her daughter and 18-year-old grandson to this year’s 50th anniversary march. For the 40th anniversary, Waller took a bus from Pittsburgh with Carolyn Dunklin, past president of the Washington NAACP branch.

Waller said the march is a call to action to fulfill key goals of the NAACP, including ending racial profiling, repealing Stand Your Ground laws, ending the school-to-prison pipeline and restoring Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act.

Robert Griffin, president of the Washington NAACP branch, said the 50th anniversary is a time to reflect and celebrate the advances made in civil rights, but also a time to challenge current problems.

“People feel like that was a million years ago and that everything has been changed and no one has to worry about … segregation or racism, that those things are a thing of the past. Unfortunately, those things are very much a reality still today,” Griffin said. “It’s always the right time to talk openly and honestly about people’s prejudices. I think that it’s a discussion that is needed not just when there’s a tragedy or when there’s a problem.”

For more information or to reserve a spot on the bus, call Carolyn Dunklin at 724-222-7820; Phyllis Waller at 724-222-7824; or David Gatling at 724-554-0876.