Our heavenly father, thank you for drawing us here today. May everything that is done and said glorify you and accomplish your will. May hearts be touched and opened; may lives be changed and may we go from this place as different people, never to be the same again. May this March be one of those events which shakes our nation and world, and brings greater justice and fairness to the lives of people of all races.

May we be the generation that brings reconciliation and peace to our nation, because we've listened and obeyed your leading. AAAAAAAMEN!!

SPEECH

Never before have multiracial people risen to an occasion like this. Oh, we've had our conventions and meetings, but never something powerful and political as this is. The credit goes to Charles Byrd for having the vision and the guts to do what should have been done long before. Ruth and I are action people, like Charles, and that's why we wouldn't have missed this March for anything!!

We are making history today. We are marching and speaking for millions of people throughout our history who desired the same things we do, but never had the opportunity to make those desires heard. For hundreds of years multiracial people and interracial couples have been ignored and silenced, like substandard citizens. No more!!

I'm a schoolteacher. You ought to know that all over the United States, teachers are being pressured to falsely identify biracial or multiracial children as one race only, depending on such things as (1) What the child looks like, (2) The race of the father or mother, (3) or even the race of that child's friends. I think that stinks, and I'm glad all of us are finally making a united move to correct this injustice.

What I suggest parents do is : If your child brings home a Racial Category Form which does not have an "Multiracial" box, take that form right back to the office. Tell them you won't commit fraud, because that's what they're asking you to do when they want you to sign that paper that falsely identifies your child!!

Recently the Multiracial Category Bill was defeated in the California Legislature. This author of the bill asked us to talk to the leaders of the Christian Coalition, to see if a meeting could be arranged at the Republican convention in San Diego California, between Bob Dole and the leaders of the Multiracial Movement. The purpose would be to find out if Mr. Dole would force the Office of Budget and Management to establish a Multiracial Category if he were elected President.

Many who are watching this march hold misconceptions or assumptions about us. We should set them straight in no uncertain terms.

1. Some may say: "This is too POLITICAL!" May I say to you, this is NOT political, it is PERSONAL! Every individual in this great country has a right to know exactly who they are and be ACKNOWLEDGED for who they are on government forms, such as birth certificates, marriage records, school forms, etc. No ancient discriminatory practice such as the "One Drop Rule," or the "Eyeball Test" determines who we are. No bureaucrat in some office somewhere who does not know or care about us should be able to determine how we express our identity.

This issue really comes home in my classroom. Every year, I have several children in my classroom who are multiracial/biracial. Their parents often mark two or more of those hideous boxes on the Racial Category Form. Each year I speak to the Administration as to how and when they will finally let these kids affirm all of who they are. As time goes by, the response I get becomes warmer and warmer. Still, the closer we get to the establishment of a true multiracial category on legal forms, the stronger I know in my heart we should have had this years and years ago!!!!

2. Some may say: "You're just waving the flag for interracial marriages and families." Not true. We're not a selfish group, trying to impose our agenda on the rest of America. We are unified thousands, from every social, racial, religious, and political label imaginable. The "check only one box" on forms is, in effect, asking us to lie, and we can not do that!! We cannot be boxed into convenient Politically Correct categories, but we deserve and demand recognition.

I have a question for those who are constantly quoting the "Founding Fathers" of our country. Don't you think it's awfully odd that Thomas Jefferson, one of the authors of that great document which states: "All men are created equal" also thought that blacks were only counted as 3/5 of a person, leading to the conclusion that they were less than a person?

We have a senator in California who constantly speaks against interracial relationships and just recently was supposed to have said that she does not want a color blind society. As a public official paid by us.... should she be in office spouting her racial prejudice like that??

I have another question for those who are constantly quoting Dr. Martin Luther King. One of the central themes Dr. King spoke over and over was that people should be judged by their character, not their skin color! Yet many people are promoting separatism today, which focuses on the appearance of a person and forms value judgments based on that alone, rather than looking at their actions. That hateful doctrine is being pushed through some of our highest institutions of learning. Isn't that directly against Dr. King's message?

I have a few words to speak to the Multiracial Community: Let's respect each other's individuality and diversity. Some of us seem to have a VERY hard time allowing each other to hold diverse views. Isn't that ironic??! In a movement celebrating diversity, we're competing and fighting with one another! Believe me, there is MORE than enough work out there for ALL of us! Just because we're from different backgrounds and beliefs doesn't mean we can't support one another, refer people to each other and wish the very BEST to one another!!

There seems to be an awful lot of jockeying for power and prestige in our movement. There seems to be a lot of group leaders unwilling to roll their sleeves up and work, especially if their name won't be in bold letters on the finished product. How will we ever be able to accomplish anything that way??

Yes, America's face is changing, and we are changing, too!! That can be a stretching, challenging, ever-so-uncomfortable process. Can we commit to changing TOGETHER?? Even though our future is unclear and uncertain, can we commit to facing whatever it is TOGETHER??

If this march accomplishes that, if we leave Washington DC re-energized and reunited in our common commitment to positive change, this will have been a SUCCESS!! Let's go back to our respective states and get involved! When you read an article, see a TV program, or hear a radio program that piques your interest, don't just shrug it off; get in contact with the people who produced that piece and with the sponsors who support it. Let your feelings be known. For every one of us who will do that, there are thousands who don't. Remember that!!

Lastly, join a local group, or join "A Place For Us." There's always room for more, and we need your special input. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, and GOD BLESS YOU!!