If it was fiercely then urgent, it certainly is now. 50 years ago there were only five africanamerican members of the house of representatives. There was no congressional black cauc caucus. Today there are 43 members. We want more but there are 43. Theyre led by congresswoman marsha fudge who you heard from and they are the conscience of the congress. In that blauk caucus we have the privilege of serving with john lewis, some of us for over 25 years in the congress, and arent we proud of that. I also want to mention that 50 years ago, though he was not a member of congress at the time that john conyers was one of three people invited to the white house to meet with president john f. Kennedy following the civil rights march, the march for jobs, justice and freedom, who is with us. 50 years ago we had the first catholic president in the white house. Today we have the first africanamerican president and the first africanamerican first family leading our country so beautifully from the white house. You know we come together here at a time when there is a monument to reverend Martin Luther king on the mall. Here he sits with president s of the United States so appropriately. We have a day set aside as a National Holiday to celebrate his birthday. But he would want us to celebrate him, his birth and his legacy by acting upon his agenda, by realizing the dream, by making the minimum wage a living wage, by having not just family and medical leave, but paid sick leave for our workers, by having quality affordable child care so that our families can be the power of women can be unleashed in our economy and in our society. And do you know what . This just happens to be womens equality weekend. When women succeed, america succeeds. When people of color succeed, america succeeds. He would also want us to be fighting for Voting Rights. Certainly we must pass a bill in the congress to correct what the Supreme Court did, but we must also be sure that every person who is eligible to vote can vote and that their vote would be counted. When i was here 50 years ago, people said and that includes Voting Rights for the district of columbia. When i was here 50 years ago people say, what do you remember most . And the music is playing, so ill say this. Dr. King said this 50 years ago, the music of the march, the harmony of the Civil Rights Movement, the notes of dr. Kings inspirational words must continue to inspire us to compose as dr. King said on that august afternoon a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. Are you ready to beat the drum for that beautiful symphony of brotherhood . Are you ready to realize the dream . Thank you all very much. That was representative nancy pelosi. She has represented californias 12th district for more than 25 years. She is, of course, the first woman speaker of the house. I am joined now here at the table by msnbcs own ed schultz who addressed this crowd earlier in the day. Melissa, good to be here. A great experience to see all these people here all over america. Its absolutely fantastic. Great experience. Hold for just one moment. It is true live television. Im hearing there are various folks coming, but not yet. Tell me, what was it like for you earlier to address this crowd . I think its important personally to get up there and when you talk to talk about your personal experiences, talk about some things that have been impressionable in your life when it comes to diversity and civil rights, and when i was 9 years old, of course, dr. King was doing the march here. Then i went to an integrated high school, forced busing for racial equality. I talked about that. And i see a movement away from diversity right now in Public Education. Last night i was in birmingham, alabama, did a radio town hall. Some of the stories that im hearing about what schools are being resourced and what schools arent. Its unbelievable that 50 years after the march we still have a long way to government my message was that diversity is our strength as a country. When we start picking and choosing neighborhoods which were seeing in major metropolitan areas because the tax base is not as strong as it should be because of income and equality, that income and equality bleeds down into the educational system. So it strangless the chance of young kids in Certain School districts. We have to watch out for that. Yesterday president obama was talking about early child care. What message are we sending to young people in america when your school doesnt get fully resourced, when we have a Political Party that attacks teachers, that finds problems with Public Education instead of mending the fences and realizing that every child in america has the potential to learn if we are the professionals and make sure that the schools are resourced. Of course, Public Education has been the engine for social mobility in america. Without it there is no possibility of moving. The main thing here is that we need to send a message to the next generation that this fight is not over, that income and equality and equality in schools still has to be achieved because that is the key to closing the gap. Youre not going to close the gap overnight when it comes to income and equality. Hold for me just one moment. Murley evers is addressing the crowd now, the widow of medgar evers. Unfortunately for me i was unable to make the first march on washington and i never really got over that until president obama said please lead us in the invocation, and that was in january of this year. Thank you reverend sharpton and others for asking me to lend a few words to this most precious gatheri gathering as i look out at the crowd, i find myself saying, what are we doing today . Where have we come from . What has been accomplished and where do we go from this point forwa forward . I think of one theme that has been played over and over in the past few months and its one that bring great controversy. Stand your ground. And we can think of standing your ground in the negative, but i ask you today to flip that coin and make stand your ground a positive ring for all of us who believe in freedom and justice and equality, that we stand firm on the ground that we have already made and be sure that nothing is taken away from us because there are efforts to turn back the clock of freedom. And i ask you today will you allow that to happen . Take the words stand your ground in a positive sense. Stand your ground in terms of fighting for justice and equality. Weve had wonderful speakers here and will have even more who will outline those things to you, but i think you know what i mean. Stake a negative and make a positive out of it. Assess where we are today, assess where we are come from, assess where we can go. Standing our ground for justice, for freedom, for equality, and i stand here today and i ask the question aint i a woman . Where are the women that need to be acknowledged in this movement for freedom and justice . We must not forget them. We must not forget Coretta Scott king. We must not forget betty shebaz. We must not forget all of the other women who poured in the sweat and the tears to move us further. So if you do nothing else, if you take nothing else from my heart and what i have said, stand your ground for freedom and justice and do whatever is necessary thats legal to move this country forward, because we are on standstill today. Standstill that looks toward the back, and we must not have that. And i think of us as trees in a forest of people, trees with a network of roots that reach far and that reach deep. The strength of a tree comes from its roots. We have young people in here today who were not born. People who have embraced the movement of justice and equality for all. Stand by them, guide them, for those of my generation i say to you, sometimes its necessary to step aside just a little bit, reach out a hand and bring up these Young Leaders that we have for we need them in america today. This is our country and we are the trees standing tall for justi justice, and we realize that the deeper we place our roots in this society, the less afraid we are to say to those who represent us, you do represent us and we will hold you accountable for all of the things because we are the trees and we have the roots through the strength and the power to turn things around. Never become so depressed that we think we cant make it. 50 years ago dr. King and so many others helped to show us the way and give us the strength to move forward. I stand here today to be thankful to be 80 years of age and see all of those changes that have taken place and realize that there were people like dr. King and so many others and yes, medgar evers who gave a life and lives for justice and equality. Let us move forward, im going to move off the stage because i hear the music being played, but i thank you for your time, i thank you for attention and i am thankful to be here with you today. Myrli evers, the wife of medgar evers killed just weeks before the march on washington. Im Melissa Perry lee here with ed schultz for the 50th anniversary for the march on washington. The message this is our country, its only our country within the rules when we function and stay involved to make sure its our country. I think these speeches that are being given are to the point, theyre inspiring in a historical perspective. It makes us understand what the fight is going forward. Intellectual curiosity is something our young people have to understand. We cant have a dumbing down of society and not understand the importance of what was done here 50 years ago and where we are today and now we have to pick the torch up and move it forward. Its only our country if we make it our moment. This is congressman john lewis, the only living speaker from the 1963 march on washington here to address this crowd. 50 years ago, 50 years ago i stood right here in this spot, 23 years old, had all of my hair and a few pounds lighter. So i come back here again to say that those days for the most part are gone, but we have another fight. We must stand up and fight the good fight as we march today for there are forces, there are people who are going to take us back. We cannot go back. Weve come too far. We want to go forward. Back in 196300 dreads and thousands and millions of our brothers and sisters could not register to vote. When i stood here 50 years ago, i said one man, one vote is the african cry. It is ours, too. It must be ours. I also said some people tell us to wait, tell us to be patient. I said 50 years later we cannot wait. We cannot be patient. We want jobs and our freedom now. All of us, it doesnt matter whether were black or white, latino, asianamerican or native american. It doesnt matter whether were straight or gay. Were one people. Were one family. Were one house. We all live in the same house. So i say to you my brothers and sisters, we cannot give up, we cannot give out, we can cannot give in. We must get out there and push and pull. I a few short years ago, almost 48 years ago, almost 50 years ago, i gave a little blood on that bridge in selma, alabama, for the right to vote. I am not going to stand by and let the Supreme Court take the right to vote away from us. You cannot stand by. You cannot sit down. You have to stand up, speak up, speak out and get in the way. Make some noise. The vote is precious. It is almost sacred i. Its the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a Democratic Society and weve got to use it. Back in 1963 we didnt have a cellular telephone, ipad, ipod, but we used what we had to bring about a nonviolent revolution. And i said to all of the young people, you must get out there and push and pull and make america what america should be for all of us. We must say to the congress fix the voting act. We must say to the Congress Pass comprehensive Immigration Reform. It doesnt make sense that naa million of our people are living in the shadows. Bring them out into the life and set them on a path to citizenship. So hang in there. Keep the faith, i got arrested 40 times during the 60s, beaten, bloodied and unconscious. Im not tired, im not weary. Im not prepared to sit down and give up. I am ready to fight and continue to fight, and you must fight. Thank you very much. Congressman john lewis. Congressman john lewis, the only living speaker from the 1963 march on washington just addressed the crowd. There is no person, ed, with greater moral authority on these issues than congressman lewis. Sf sf. No doubt about it. He speaks from the heart, speaks from the soul of what has to be done in america. He made a profound point, no fax machines, no cell phones, no social media. Hes appealing to the heart, to the soul of the people of what has to be done. All the tools are in front of us to make this happen for the next generation. Its a real great challenge. I thought it was a fabulous speech. The next speaker, randy wi winegarder in, president of the union of teachers. August 28, 1963, dr. Martin luther king, junior, and thousands of others marched on washington for jobs and freedom. Congressman john lewis was the youngest speecher and now 50 years later, i am the youngest speaker. [ cheers and applause ] and i am marching for education, justice and freedom. All over the country Public Education is under attack. Public schools are closing in africanamerican and latino communities. In chicago we had 50 School Closings in africanamerican and latino communities. Budget cuts in all Public Schools and increase in Charter School budgets and new Charter School openings. Every child deserves a great education. [ cheers and applause ] every school deserves equal funding and resources. I encourage all of you to keep dr. Martin luther king juniors dream alive. Help us fight for freedom, racial equality, jobs, Public Education because i have a dream that we shall over come. An internet sensation. Weeks ago there were protests in chicago, illinois because of the budget cuts that were taking place in the city. This young man guided by his mother and educated by his mother stepped up in front of a crowd and stole the moment in chicago and made people realize that kids are paying attention. He became an internet sensation. Hes a very intelligent young man. We brought him down to the Essence Festival in new orleans. He is so impressive and he is driven. His main message is every child must have the resources. He sees at a young age there are some schools being resourced and other schools that are not. I asked him when we were traveling down to new orleans do you understand now youre in the eye of the storm. This kid is a gift from god. This kid is a gift to americas democracy and a young voice that i think were going to hear for years to come. He just made history. He just became the youngest speaker to march on washington 2013, coming after john lewis, the youngest speaker 50 years ago. I want you to know this kid, he knows it and he believes it. He is so genuine. Hes a little football player, too. I said what position do you play . He says im all over the place. Exactly. Confidence just pours off this young man. He was very pointed about ram emanuel. He was asking the mayor of chicago why are you doing this to our schools . He was Challenging Authority and challenging the decisions that were being made. He has really been a leader. He has proven that leaders come in all shapes, sizes and age. How refreshing it is. A reminder of the legacy, 50 years ago, the march on washington immediately on the heels of the Birmingham Childrens crusade. It was young people just like Asean Johnson who led the way and al thousand dollar the moral authority to occur. Not just a future leader, but our leader right now. We must follow him right now. I was in birmingham last night and i heard similar voices just like Asean Johnson, the call for young people to get engaged, the call for young people to Pay Attention to whats going on and understand that there is an inequity taking place. There are resources for some schools and not to others. That was my message earlier, when the kids are recognizing it, if they recognize that at a young age, weve got some real correcting to do. Of course, we are listening now to Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of teachers. Shes there next to Asean Johnson because of the continuing fight for labor questions, for teachers all around the country. In districts that fail to invest in Public Education, that turn their back on Public Schools. We cant let asean down. We cant let generations of students down. That is my we march. That is we march. That is why we march lets give asean another round of applause. He is our future, isnt he . [ applause ] you know, in 1963 afsmi members were part of the historic march on washington for jobs and justice. Juanita steel was one of them. Now juanita is 81 years old. Sister steel, a former day care teacher from new york city is here today participating in this march for justice and freedom and jobs. 50 years ago sister steele prayed that the march would change hearts and minds. She listened. She listened as dr. King spoke about the fierce urgency, the fierce urgency of now, the whirl winds of change, the new militancy. Five years later she mournd with all of us when dr. King was killed in memphis, where he had gone to support the 1300 sanitation workers of afsme local 723. Decades have changed, times have changed, the new militancy of 1963 changed america and inspired the world. But the promise of democracy has not been made real for all of us. The promise is not real for people who work hard and play by the rules every single day, struggle to pay the bills. The promise is not real for retirees who work hard all their lives but dont now how theyll make it day to day. The promise is not real for students who graduate under so much debt they wonder