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CNN Live Saturday

Thousands Come Together To Commemorate King's "I Have A Dream" Speech

Aired August 23, 2003 - 18:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds of people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial today in Washington. It was there 40 years ago that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I have a dream" speech. The event is being commemorated with a two-day celebration. CNN's Kathleen Koch is there.
Kathleen, I was just going to say, I was surprised, I am hearing reports of only a couple of hundred people there. Is that correct?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's not accurate, no. There are thousands of people here. Organizers say up to 10,000. So that's quite an underestimation that you've got there. Folks have come here from across the country, Andrea. Some by bus, some by car, by train. Even a group that walked here by foot all the way from Mississippi.

The theme for this rally and the march on this 40th anniversary is return, repair and renew the dream. They have heard from who's who of civil rights leaders today during the rally, including also members of Martin Luther King Jr.'s family, many of them honoring the man, but also honoring the dream that they say has not yet been fully realized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORETTA SCOTT KING: Let us dare to dream of a peace that humanity has never known. Let us dare to dream of a world where no child of any race or nation goes to bed hungry at night, a world where every family has decent shelter and health care, and educational opportunities for its young people. Let us dare to dream of a new era, when the armaments of annihilation are replaced with the plowshares of renewal.

MARTIN LUTHER KING III: We're here today to (UNINTELLIGIBLE), to heal the festering sores of racial oppression. Despite the progress we've made during the last four decades, people of color are still being denied a fair share of employment and educational opportunities in our society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: The march here on this very site some 40 years ago of course focused on ending segregation, on bringing civil rights and jobs to the African-American community, and there are some who as this 40th anniversary celebration has gone on, some have said that the intensity, the sense of history, that commitment isn't here, that it's absent, but there are some 100 groups involved in today's anniversary celebration, and they say they are committed, and that this is just as urgent today to fight to retain those rights, to retain the gains that were made during the civil rights movement, and that they believe that those are threatened by the Republican administration and by conservatives that are in America today, but it's part of why they're launching a 15-month voter registration drive. They believe that it's critical to get out the vote, to get the disenfranchised to participate, and they say that's the only way to build a momentum to get the votes, to make this dream become a reality, Andrea.

KOPPEL: And Kathleen, is it fair to say that most of the people there want to build the votes and get out the vote for the Democratic Party?

KOCH: I think one can safely assume that, though the people who participated here, it was a very broad range, young, old, black, white, Hispanic, Arab-American, that one - the political leaders, at least, who showed up here, Howard Dean and then Joe Lieberman also, candidate for president, were both supposed to be here, and obviously one can assume that that's the direction the votes will go.

Now, politicians were not allowed to speak. This is very interesting. Organizers here said their job was to sit and listen and then to get some action on these issues - Andrea.

KOPPEL: So were Dean and Lieberman the only presidential candidates who were there?

KOCH: Well, I saw Dean. Lieberman was scheduled to be here, but again, with roughly 10,000 people here, I didn't spot him in the crowd, so I'm not certain that he actually showed up. But there were other politicians, but again, no one came to the podium. This was the people speaking out today, and as Walter Fauntroy (ph), one of the organizers said, time for the politicians to listen and then act.

KOPPEL: Right. And this is a two-day affair after all. Kathleen,

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Dream" Speech>


Aired August 23, 2003 - 18:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds of people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial today in Washington. It was there 40 years ago that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I have a dream" speech. The event is being commemorated with a two-day celebration. CNN's Kathleen Koch is there.
Kathleen, I was just going to say, I was surprised, I am hearing reports of only a couple of hundred people there. Is that correct?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's not accurate, no. There are thousands of people here. Organizers say up to 10,000. So that's quite an underestimation that you've got there. Folks have come here from across the country, Andrea. Some by bus, some by car, by train. Even a group that walked here by foot all the way from Mississippi.

The theme for this rally and the march on this 40th anniversary is return, repair and renew the dream. They have heard from who's who of civil rights leaders today during the rally, including also members of Martin Luther King Jr.'s family, many of them honoring the man, but also honoring the dream that they say has not yet been fully realized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORETTA SCOTT KING: Let us dare to dream of a peace that humanity has never known. Let us dare to dream of a world where no child of any race or nation goes to bed hungry at night, a world where every family has decent shelter and health care, and educational opportunities for its young people. Let us dare to dream of a new era, when the armaments of annihilation are replaced with the plowshares of renewal.

MARTIN LUTHER KING III: We're here today to (UNINTELLIGIBLE), to heal the festering sores of racial oppression. Despite the progress we've made during the last four decades, people of color are still being denied a fair share of employment and educational opportunities in our society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: The march here on this very site some 40 years ago of course focused on ending segregation, on bringing civil rights and jobs to the African-American community, and there are some who as this 40th anniversary celebration has gone on, some have said that the intensity, the sense of history, that commitment isn't here, that it's absent, but there are some 100 groups involved in today's anniversary celebration, and they say they are committed, and that this is just as urgent today to fight to retain those rights, to retain the gains that were made during the civil rights movement, and that they believe that those are threatened by the Republican administration and by conservatives that are in America today, but it's part of why they're launching a 15-month voter registration drive. They believe that it's critical to get out the vote, to get the disenfranchised to participate, and they say that's the only way to build a momentum to get the votes, to make this dream become a reality, Andrea.

KOPPEL: And Kathleen, is it fair to say that most of the people there want to build the votes and get out the vote for the Democratic Party?

KOCH: I think one can safely assume that, though the people who participated here, it was a very broad range, young, old, black, white, Hispanic, Arab-American, that one - the political leaders, at least, who showed up here, Howard Dean and then Joe Lieberman also, candidate for president, were both supposed to be here, and obviously one can assume that that's the direction the votes will go.

Now, politicians were not allowed to speak. This is very interesting. Organizers here said their job was to sit and listen and then to get some action on these issues - Andrea.

KOPPEL: So were Dean and Lieberman the only presidential candidates who were there?

KOCH: Well, I saw Dean. Lieberman was scheduled to be here, but again, with roughly 10,000 people here, I didn't spot him in the crowd, so I'm not certain that he actually showed up. But there were other politicians, but again, no one came to the podium. This was the people speaking out today, and as Walter Fauntroy (ph), one of the organizers said, time for the politicians to listen and then act.

KOPPEL: Right. And this is a two-day affair after all. Kathleen,

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Dream" Speech>