60 years on, the urgency of now is as fierce as ever

Reflecting on the March for Jobs and Freedom, and our road ahead. {NAME},  Sixty years ago today, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. walked up to the microphone on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, looked out over the sea of people gathered and began his now-iconic address.  While many Americans remember it as King’s “I have a dream” speech, it was so much more than that.  More than 250,000 people came to Washington D.C. that day – marching not for a dream, but for jobs and freedom, racial justice and an end to police brutality. These were concrete demands to materially improve people’s lives and transform our society for future generations.  King’s speech that day was not rooted in a call for color-blindness, but of brotherhood and shared prosperity – for an America that fully delivered on her promise that ALL people are created equal, and ALL of us have been endowed with the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. His speech was for an America that became the Beloved Community.  Listening to recordings of Dr. King's speech is what inspired me to attend King’s alma mater, Morehouse College. I even followed his footsteps into the ministry.  Listening to this speech again today reminds me of the work we have yet to do – and the reason we started Vortex.  The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom truly changed the course of America. Less than one year after the crowd of a quarter million gathered on the National Mall, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.  One year after that, we got the Voting Rights Act passed. And three years later, merely days after Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, the Fair Housing Act was signed into law.  But {NAME}, today all of that progress and more is at risk – and some of the rights for which we fought so hard have already been stripped away.  Ten years ago, the Supreme Court gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and states like Arkansas wasted no time enacting new limitations to suppress participation from Black voters.  Nearly 70 years after our schools were desegregated, Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ unconstitutional LEARNS Act threatens to make ‘separate and unequal’ a reality once more.  Sixty years after the March on Washington, King’s words about the limits of economic opportunities for Black Americans remain true:  "One hundred years later [after the Emancipation Proclamation], the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination."  In his speech, Dr. King asserted that America has more than enough capacity to deliver on her promises:  “We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.”  It is this steadfast belief that drives our work at Vortex. The change we seek is not some distant dream. It is a reality completely within our grasp.  We are not consigned to a fate of subservience to MAGA extremists and Republican radicals. The future of Arkansas – of this nation – is ours to write.  Sixty years ago today, the Civil Rights legends and everyday heroes on whose shoulders we still stand brought together a coalition unlike any assembled before in our nation’s history – one ready to rise, in the words of Dr. King, “from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”  It was the coalition that moment demanded, and this moment demands that we continue that fight in brotherhood.  We hear the demands to continue fighting in the cries of Jacksonville families impacted by the white-supremacy-fueled murder of three Black people at a Dollar General. We hear the demands to continue fighting in the parched voices of Jackson, Mississippi residents who lived under a failed water system. We hear the demands to continue fighting in the steadfast resolve of the Little Rock Nine who marched against Governor Orval Faubus to integrate Little Central High School in 1957 and who now speak out against Governor Sarah Sanders as she tries to erase that very history. We hear the demands to continue the fight.  Now is not the time "to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism," but to embrace the “fierce urgency of now,” rise as one, and demand action at ALL levels and for ALL people. [An animated gif of a video clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963. In it, King says: “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.”]( That is why Vortex exists – to use the levers of political power and open the vaults of opportunity for everyone.  Today, I encourage you all to [listen to Dr. King’s words once again](, and to ask yourself how you can best serve in this moment.  You are a vital part of this coalition, and each of us must contribute what we can to the cause. For some, that means volunteering their time and talents. For others, it means running for office. And for many of you, it means investing directly in the future of Arkansas with a financial contribution.  However you choose to be a part of this work, know that your individual contribution strengthens our whole coalition. I am grateful today to stand in brotherhood with each of you.  In service,  Dr. Chris Jones [Support VortexÂ](      Vortex PAC is a new grassroots movement to transform Arkansas politics away from the far-right. We are recruiting, training, and supporting Democratic candidates to flip all four of Arkansas’ U.S. congressional districts and help win back the House majority in 2024. [DONATE >>](   Paid for by Vortex PAC  ©2023 Vortex PAC, all rights reserved  Our mailing address is: Vortex PAC PO Box 1141 Springdale, AR 72765 We're sad to see you go, but if you believe you received this email in error, or you no longer wish to receive our emails you can unsubscribe using the link below: [Click here to unsubscribe.]( Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Vortex PAC, please [click here](.