DETROIT — Arab American activists joined thousands for the walk down Woodward Avenue on Saturday, June 22 in Detroit, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a march that Martin Luther King, Jr. led in 1963, where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream Speech,” before it was delivered in Washington, D.C. 

“We have an opportunity, as Americans, as Arab Americans to be a part of this great historical march that very few would have the honor of being a part of around the world,” Nabih Ayad, attorney and chairman of the Arab American Civil Rights League said. 

Ayad says that Arab Americans have much at stake, like the African American community did fifty years ago. “One of the largest African American communities in the nation lives next to the largest concentration of Arab Americans, outside of the Middle East. We have much in common.  The struggle continues for both people,” Ayad said. 

The march included high profile civil rights leaders, like Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. In addition, a number of Arab American activists from the Arab American Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) and the ACRL participated as well. “In 1963, King marched down Woodward Avenue and delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech for the first time. Saturday’s event, sponsored by the NAACP Detroit branch and UAW-Ford, is the “Take a Step” walk to commemorate the successes of civil rights over the past 50 years and to re-energize us all in our continued work for equal opportunity,” Hassan Jaber, executive director of ACCESS said.