Statement from Legislator Ed Day, Candidate for Rockland County Executive, on the 50th Anniversary of the Great March on Washington:
Fifty years ago today, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., along with about 300,000 like-minded men and women, marched on our nation's capital demanding equal treatment and equal rights for all Americans, regardless of color or creed.
Rockland is a diverse county, with many different groups contributing their experiences, beliefs, and heritage to the fabric out of which our community is woven. We prize this diversity, and we prize the tolerance and openness of our community. With those qualities comes the recognition that all of us deserve fair and even treatment from others and government, equality of opportunity, and fundamental human dignity.
Today, we honor those men and women who sacrificed in the long struggle for civil rights, and traveled from far and near to stand up for equality and the fundamental right to be judged, as Dr. King put it so well, "not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Finally, we recognize that no matter how far we have come towards that goal, it is incumbent upon all of us to be always striving towards the great vision of a more perfect Union for all.
