Marching orders

More than 100,000 people are expected to converge on Washington, D.C., August 28 in a "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." It is estimated that three-fifths of the assembly will be Negroes and whites responding to the call of the Congress of Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, the Negro American Labor Council, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Urban League. It is hoped that 40,000 churchmen from all parts of the country will be present in response to the invitation of the National Council of Churches, the American Jewish Congress and the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice. The march will seek "by a massive, peaceful, and democratic demonstration in the nation's capital to provide evidence of the need for the federal government to take effective and immediate action to deal with the national crisis of civil rights and jobs that all of us, Negro and white, are facing." The religious assembly will seek "to demonstrate our solidarity in support of racial justice implemented through civil rights legislation" and "to witness to the fact that this is a national moral issue and not a regional problem." There seems to be no uniform set of directives for participants in the march on Washington. From several sources we have gleaned the following helpful suggestions: 1. Check your local council of churches for details. 2. Don't drive your private car to Washington; go by bus, train or plane. 3. Arrive in Washington the morning of August 28 and leave the capital before nightfall. 4. Bring box lunches for two meals and plenty of drinking water. 5. Leave children under 14 years of age at home under proper care. 6. Do not let young people over 14 participate unless they are accompanied by a parent or a guardian. 7. Assemble at the Washington Monument at 10:00 A.M. 8. March to the Lincoln Memorial at 12:00 noon for the major addresses (2:30 P.M.). 9. Identification banners will be permitted in the march but no signs or banners with slogans. 10. Help maintain order by obeying the trained marshals provided by the sponsoring groups, the Washington police and the U.S. government. Marshals will meet all buses, trains and planes. 11. Pray that the spirit of Christ move in and through the march.