    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [August 28, 1993]
    [Page 1402]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1402]]

    Statement on the 30th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs
    and Freedom
    August 28, 1993

        On this day 30 years ago, almost a quarter million Americans
    gathered in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial to ask our Nation to
    uphold its founding ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity for
    all.
        As he looked at the crowd, Martin Luther King, Jr., must have been
    inspired by what he saw: people of every color, united in mutual respect
    and common purpose, representing America as it was meant to be and as it
    must be. In the words of A. Philip Randolph, whose vision of a
    multiracial movement for social justice inspired this historic
    demonstration, those who marched on August 28, 1963, were ``the advance
    guard of a massive moral revolution for jobs and freedom.''
        Three decades later, we remember how far we have come on freedom's
    trail, and we rededicate ourselves to completing the journey. As a son
    of the South, I have seen in my own lifetime how racism held all of us
    down and how the civil rights movement set all of us free. We must never
    forget the hard-earned lesson that America can only move forward when we
    move forward together.
        That is why we rededicate ourselves to vigorous enforcement of the
    civil rights laws, to eradicating discrimination of every kind, and to
    opposing intolerance in all its forms. And we firmly believe that, as
    such visionary leaders as Martin Luther King, A. Philip Randolph, and
    Bayard Rustin understood three decades ago, jobs and freedom are
    inextricably linked. Human dignity demands that each of us have the
    opportunity to use our God-given abilities, to support ourselves and our
    families, and to produce something of value for our fellow men and
    women.
        In everything we do, we are guided by that vision of economic
    empowerment. That is why we have struggled to lift the working poor out
    of poverty. That is why we have struggled to expand the opportunities
    for education, training, and national service. That is why we have
    struggled to bring new jobs, new opportunities, and new hope to
    communities all across this country, from our smallest towns to our
    oldest cities. That is why we will spare no effort to provide every
    family in America with health care they can count on, health care that's
    always there. And as we pursue the timeless goals of opportunity for all
    and responsibility for all, let us follow the example of those who
    marched 30 years ago and work together, regardless of race or region or
    religion or party.
        As we honor the past and build the future, let us listen again to
    the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., ``Now is the time to make real the
    promises of democracy . . . now is the time to make justice a reality
    for all God's children.'' Together, we can make that dream a reality.
    Together, we can make the country we love everything it was meant to be.