
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 28, 1993                   TAG: 9308300256
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

MARCHERS TRICKLING INTO D.C.

Marchers young and old began a slow stream into the capital on Friday to celebrate the 30th anniversary march on Washington, billed as a transfer of civil rights leadership to a younger generation.

But as college students groomed by civil rights groups held forums on the future of the movement, disgruntled urban activists pulled out of the event, calling it a party for middle-class blacks.

Today's march and rally are to commemorate the watershed 1963 march demanding voting rights and an end to official segregation. It is sponsored by the same civil rights and labor groups that staged the original march, where Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech.

This time, the agenda is "Jobs, Justice and Peace," with issues such as preserving union jobs, changing federal drug sentencing laws and locating soldiers missing from the Vietnam War.

This agenda is advanced by a broad coalition that includes Hispanics, Asians, American Indians, women, gays, the disabled and the elderly.

While the original march drew about 200,000 people, organizers say this time they expect "tens of thousands" of marchers, likely well short of their initial goal of 250,000.

Some have questioned why another commemoration is being held.

"March for what?" asked Louvenia Wheeler, as she waited for a bus at Washington's Union Station with her two sons. "We're always marching, and nothing ever changes."

Also sitting out the march is an organization of reformed gang members who said Friday that the commemoration is overlooking the concerns of urban poor people.

\ MARCH ON WASHINGTON \The March on Washington, marking the 30th anniversary of the civil rights rally at which Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, includes these events:

7 a.m. Ecumenical breakfast at Grand Hyatt Hotel.

9 a.m.-Noon. Marchers assemble on the Mall and Washington Monument grounds. Music, speeches and entertainment on a stage at Independence Avenue and 17th Street N.W.

9:30 a.m. Bayard Rustin Commemorative Alliance rally and news conference at McPherson Square.

10 a.m. Interfaith service at Sylvan Theatre.

Noon-2 p.m. March from the Mall and Washington Monument grounds to the Lincoln Memorial.

2 p.m.-6 p.m. Speeches at Lincoln Memorial. More than 50 people are scheduled to speak.

8:30 p.m. "I Remember" performing arts program at Kennedy Center. AP

by CNB