Betraying the March ; That 'I Have a Dream' Day Was Aimed at Economic Justice - Not Simply Desegregation

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The 40th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech calls forth countless accolades and commemorations.

Yet this week's celebratory deluge obscures the real story of the march far more than it illuminates it. While the march of course merits praise as one of great civil rights landmarks in American history, its actual legacy is a less happy story than most accounts acknowledge. Indeed, a good argument can be made that much of black America, as well as many white liberals, betrayed the march's real ideals even before the decade of the 1960s had run its course.

On the day it took place, the 1963 march was …