Commemorate the historic Walk to Freedom on Saturday and march for justice

Saturday will be a great day for those who love freedom and equality, and there will be at least two ways to demonstrate it.

The Michigan Democratic Party is holding its nominating convention on Saturday and Sunday in Detroit’s Cobo Hall, but many delegates, myself included, are going to take a break from the informative caucus meetings to join Rev. Jessie Jackson and a coalition of organizations and union, community, religious and political leaders to march to demand real change for working families and all of America and to commemorate the historic Walk to Freedom led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Detroit in 1963.

The march will step off at 10:30 a.m. at the UAW-Ford National Programs Center, next to Hart Plaza, 151 W. Jefferson Ave., and it ends at Grand Circus Park.

Dr. King was a long and strong supporter of organized labor, and he saw the rights of workers as part of the fight for Civil Rights.

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) archivist Bob Garrett, the Detroit march took place when Dr. King was then in the midst of a tour that began that spring of 1963 from California to New York. His Detroit stop proved the tour's biggest success. Police estimated the Freedom Walk crowd at 125,000. The day after the event, The Detroit Free Press labeled it "the largest civil rights demonstration in the nation's history." The walk began at Woodward and Adelaide and continued down Woodward to Cobo Hall. It lasted about an hour and a half, as marchers carried signs and sang songs, such "We Shall Overcome" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

The Detroit Council for Human Rights organized the Walk. The Council's director, Benjamin McFall, and its Chairman, Rev. Clarence L. Franklin, marched in a line with King and former Gov. John B. Swainson. That line also included Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanaugh, United Auto Workers President Walter P. Reuther and State Auditor General Billie S. Farnum.

At the walk's conclusion, King gave a speech at Cobo Hall. According to the Free Press, approximately 25,000 people attended the speech. They listened as King spoke of non-violence and an end to racial segregation. The June 24, 1963 Free Press report notes that King "ended his speech by telling of a dream." According to the Free Press, King described his dream of whites and blacks "walking together hand in hand, free at last."

In his book King: A Biography, David Levering Lewis states that King repeated the phrase "I have a dream" several times during that Cobo Hall speech. Lewis notes that when King addressed a crowd in Washington, D.C. two months later, he "kept the refrain from the Detroit speech: I have a dream."

Saturday will also mark the day of King's historic Washington speech of August 28, 1963 that became famous as his "I have a dream speech." It was a defining moment in the American civil rights movement. In one sense, however, the seeds of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream were planted in Michigan - in Detroit's Cobo Hall.

See you there.

Noted civil rights leader to rally against predatory lending

Well-known national civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson will be in Michigan beginning Tuesday to address both the national and local problem of foreclosures, predatory lending and subprime lending and to urge legislation to combat the problem.

Although predatory lending and high foreclosure rates are national problems, it’s exceptionally acute in Michigan where the state’s leading employer is shedding jobs. Michigan lays claim to the unenviable record of being the fourth highest in the country in the number of home foreclosures, but it is also a problem nationally with 1.2 million foreclosures filed in 2006. That number is expected to rise.

Jackson will team with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) for the "Saving Our Homes, Building Healthy Communities” initiative. He will appear at rallies and forums in mid-and southeast Michigan for three days beginning with a community forum at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, 1083 East Stewart Street at Selby in Flint.

Jackson is the founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, a progressive organization of all races fighting for social change. Jackson has been a civil rights pioneer for more than 40 years when he became a full-time organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in the 1960s and worked and marched alongside legendary civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King. He was also a Democratic candidate for President in 1984 and 1988.

ACORN - the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, the nation's largest community organization of low-and moderate-income families working for social justice.- just released a study last month called “Foreclosure Exposure.” Although the reports shows the problem has effected all homebuyers, it found that minorities - regardless of income – took out a much higher percentage of high-risk loans, particularly Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM). ACORN is sponsoring a rally of its own from 9-11 a.m. on Tuesday on the Capitol steps in Lansing.

According to the report, subprime loans were initially created for borrowers with low incomes or poor credit histories who were unable to obtain prime loans at a standard bank rate, but the system was abused when many borrowers who would have been able to qualify for credit on better terms were targeted for these higher-interest loans. ARMS have also contributed heavily to the problem because rates automatically increase after two years, and many lenders only consider the cost of the initial lower payments, not the higher, later payments. Additionally, some lenders and brokers write loans they know the borrowers cannot afford just to collect the fees and commissions.

“This is an issue we are very much involved with here in Michigan,” said Dave Lagstein, an ACORN organizer in Michigan.

The problem has drawn a lot of attention from the Legislature and the Governor lately, and last week both the House and Senate from both sides of the aisle rolled out legislation to address the problem. The Governor also set up the “Save the Dream” initiative in MSDA last week to offer resources and advice to avoid foreclosure.

Jackson’s schedule of events continues at 9 am. Wednesday when he addresses students at J.W. Sexton High School, 102 South McPherson Ave. in Lansing. At noon Jackson will travel to Saginaw to hold a community forum at the Greater Coleman Temple Cogic, 2716 Wadsworth St. Jackson will be back in Lasing for a 6 p.m. townhall meeting at Pattengill Middle School, 1017 Jerome St.

Thursday will feature Jackson leading a Legislative Engagement Rally at Noon on the Capitol steps, followed by a 3 p.m. rally and meeting at Welcome Missionary Baptist Church, 143 Oneida Rd. in Pontiac. Jackson’s Michigan visit will end at the historic Little Rock Baptist Church, 9000 Woodward Ave. in Detroit, with a forum at 6 p.m. At all the summits and forums representatives from MSHDA and other community and state agencies will be on hand to offer advice on saving a home from foreclosure.