Portside

Too often feminists and leftists dismiss the importance of sports in society and only focus on the machismo culture encouraged by professional/college athletics. Although that culture is real to an alarming extent, I dare say it is also an elitist attitude that is not conducive to mass organizing and needs to be re-considered.

The message of the march still resonated in 1965, when Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid, key features of President Lyndon B. Johnson's proposal to bring "an end to poverty and racial injustice." The march was so successful that we often forget that it occurred in a political environment not so different from our own. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the march, however, its central achievements are more imperiled than ever.