Crowds remember King's dream

Dr King's wife and three children were at the memorial march

Thousands of people in Washington have been commemorating the 40th anniversary of the "I have a dream" speech made by the civil rights leader, Martin Luther King.

On 28 August 1963 he stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his speech to a crowd of 250,000 people.

It was the high point of the struggle for black equality in America and the demonstrators had marched on the US capital to call for jobs and freedom.

Forty years on, the civil rights leader's son, Martin Luther King III, said that although there had been many achievements in the past four decades, there was still a long way to go.

Mr King, who was five years old when his father made the speech, told the crowds on Saturday that jobs and freedom were still issues that needed to be addressed.

Racial oppression

"I know my father was more than a dreamer," said Martin Luther King III.

"He didn't just talk the talk, he walked the walk.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood Martin Luther King 28 August 1963

"Today we are here to accept that challenge, knowing that we have a lot of work to do to create the beloved community of that dream, to plant the bomb of justice, to heal the festering sores of racial oppression."

Dr King's widow, Coretta Scott King, urged the crowd to follow the peaceful path that her husband preached.

"We must make our hearts instruments of peace and non-violence because when the heart is right, the mind and the body will follow," she said.

Other speakers spoke against racial profiling, the death penalty and the Iraq war.

The Democrat politician, Jesse Jackson, said the 1963 speech, and the march which followed to call for jobs and freedom, set the pace for human rights struggles around the world.

Discrimination lives on 1 black youth in 10 between ages of 25 and 29 is in prison Just 2.9% of Latinos and 1.1% of whites are About 791,600 black men were in prison in 2000 Just 603,032 were enrolled in college/university 23% of blacks live below the poverty line Just 12% of whites do Equality still a dream

In 1963, many black people could not vote; neither could they use the same restaurants, bathrooms or hotels as white people.

A rights activist with vivid memories of the 1963 speech, John Lewis, now a Democrat representing Georgia, helped organise the march.

"I was here 40 years ago, 23 years old, a few pounds lighter, with all of my hair," he said.

"Too many of us are too complacent, too satisfied. We need to make a little noise."

Memorial plaque

Another civil rights activist, the Reverend Al Sharpton, said: "This is about who will stand up for the black and the white and the Latino and, yes, the gay and the lesbian, and all of those that have been locked out. We've got to unlock the door."

Before the speeches, participants took part in a series of teach-ins, with discussions ranging from education, economic justice and jobs to voter education and empowerment.

Saturday's march Washington was the third of its kind, after similar events in 1983 and 1993.

The commemoration began on Friday night when Dr King's widow unveiled a plaque to mark the spot on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where her late husband made the speech.

Dr King was assassinated in Memphis on 4 April 1968 by James Earl Ray.