President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with the family of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday marked the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, where King delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

The White House invited a broad group of civil rights leaders to the meeting, including Martin Luther King III, his wife Arndrea Waters King, his sister Bernice King and Rev. Al Sharpton, along with representatives from organizations representing Jews.

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and Asian Americans, according to Sharpton’s National Action Network.

The Democratic president took a page out of history by opening the White House to King’s family. On August 28, 1963, the day of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, President John F. Kennedy welcomed King and other key march organizers to the Oval Office for a meeting.

The White House initially said Biden’s meeting would be closed to press coverage, but reversed course on Monday afternoon, saying journalists would be allowed in for the meeting.

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of the meeting. It comes two days after Saturday

racist

Store attack in Jacksonville, Florida, where three black people were shot dead by a white man wearing a mask and firing a weapon marked with a swastika. The shooter, who had also posted racist writings, committed suicide.

MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech remains etched in American memory as he turns 60

Biden was also scheduled to address a reception Monday evening marking the 60th anniversary of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a non-partisan, non-profit legal organization created at Kennedy’s request to help advocate for racial justice.

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Biden said his administration is working to further King’s dream of a society where people don’t judge others by their skin color.

Biden said his policies have led to a drop in black unemployment, more small businesses opened by black entrepreneurs, and more black families covered by health insurance.

He has donated approximately $7 billion to the network of historically black colleges and universities and has emphasized appointing black people to his cabinet and White House staff, to the federal judiciary, and to independent agencies such as the Federal Reserve.

For generations, Black Americans have not always been fully included in our democracy or our economy, but through sheer courage and heart, they have never given up on the pursuit of the American Dream, Biden wrote.

Thousands gather on the National Mall to celebrate Washington’s 60th anniversary march

He also referred to Saturday

racist

attack in

Jacksonville,

Florida.

We must refuse to live in a country where black families going to the store or black students going to school fear being shot because of their skin color, Biden wrote.

He called on the country to reject the narrow view that America is a zero-sum game that means that if one wants to succeed, the other must fail, adding, “Let’s not forget that America is big enough for anyone to get it right.” to do and reach their God. given potential.

Biden’s meeting with King’s family and his remarks at the reception will give the president, who is running for re-election, a chance to engage black voters by talking about what he and his wider administration have done to improve their lives .

But Biden has also struggled to deliver on key promises to black voters, arguably the most loyal group in his political base. He has kept his promise to put a black woman first on the Supreme Court, but has failed to follow through on his promises to strengthen voting rights or make changes to the police force to reduce violence against people of color. helping people stop by law enforcement. Legislation on both issues has stalled in a divided Congress.

Visitors to the Lincoln Memorial say America has its flaws, but have seen gains on Washington since March

Harris, the first black person to be elected vice president, said in a statement Monday that the march, while historic, was neither the beginning nor the end of the civil rights movement.

Today, 60 years after that historic day, let’s rededicate ourselves to the fight for equality, opportunity and justice, she said. And let’s keep working to secure our most fundamental freedoms: the freedom to vote, the freedom of women to make decisions about their own bodies, and the freedom to live free from hate and violence.

The 1963 March on Washington is still regarded as one of the largest and most consistent demonstrations of racial justice in American history.

The nonviolent protest drew as many as 250,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial and gave impetus to Congress to pass groundbreaking civil and voting rights legislation in subsequent years. King was murdered in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

On Saturday, the same day as the Florida shooting, thousands of people gathered on the National Mall for a 60th anniversary commemoration. Speakers and others said a country still torn by racial inequality has yet to fulfill King’s dream of a color-blind society in which his four children “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the substance of their character.”