Jesse Jackson: Be inspired by ‘I have a dream’ speech

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has called for Britain and America to tackle the “unfinished business” of racial inequality as he prepares to speak in London to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech.

The Reverend Jackson said there were parallels between the UK and the US and that much still needs to be done. Dr King led a march of 250,000 people on Washington to deliver his rallying cry against racism on August 28, 1963.

President Obama is to make an address in Washington tomorrow with bells due to be rung, in tribute to Dr King’s line “let freedom ring”, across the US and cities around the world including London. Mr Jackson, 71, told the Standard: “The dream of equal rights and economic justice has transformed the USA, and of course helped transform the UK and other parts of the world.

“Much progress has been made, but there is unfinished business and more remains to be done.”

Mr Jackson, who was an aide of Dr King’s, was him in the Memphis motel where he was assassinated in 1968.

He is to speak at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham next Thursday in an event organised by Operation Black Vote. For more information visit www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk.

Radio 4 is to broadcast Dr King’s speech tomorrow at 9am to mark the anniversary using voices of prominent figures, including Stephen Lawrence’s mother Doreen and the Dalai Lama.