"We may be closer to equality, but we are far from justice."

WASHINGTON, DC—Joining presidents and giants of the Civil Rights movement as part of the national commemoration of the March on Washington, Alan van Capelle, CEO of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, urging his fellow American Jews and all Americans to continue the struggle for civil rights.

“The vision Dr. King offered us 50 years ago wasn’t only a dream. It was a call for equality but it was also a demand for justice,” van Capelle said. “We may be closer to equality but we are far from justice... Every year Jews around the world recall how Moses led his people out of slavery and towards the Promised Land. But the desert came first. Jews believe that the only way to the Promised Land is through the desert. We are taught that ‘there is no way to get from here to there except by joining together and marching.’”

Van Capelle’s brief speech was part of the Let Freedom Ring Commemoration and Call to Action event at the Lincoln Memorial, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s incomparable “I Have A Dream” speech.