To celebrate and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, BET will cover the events live from the anniversary March on the Washington Mall on Saturday to the “Let Freedom Ring” event on the actual anniversary date of the March next Wednesday, August 28th.
“50 – The March and the Movement” airs live on BET on Saturday, August 24 at 11 a.m. and covers the history of the March with some of its organizers and participants.
It’s very exciting,” Debra Lee, CEO of BET Networks told The Tom Joyner Morning Show. “BET will be there covering it live. 50 years is an amazing milestone and with all we have going on in our community – the George Zimmerman verdict, gun violence, all the issues that we still have to resolve it’s a great time for us to march.”
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BET.com users will have the chance to ask questions from a distinguished panel of guest including Eleanor Holmes Norton, who attended the 1963 March as a volunteer, Representative John Lewis, who is the last of the March’s 10 speakers who is still alive, Bernice King and Andrew Young. A Twitter hashtag #MarchDC50 has already been established.
“Ed Gordon, George Curry, and Mark Lamont Hill will be broadcasting from the Newseum,” says Lee. “We want to be there to mark history. We’re all looking forward to what President Obama is going to say and I think I’ve heard a rumor that President Clinton and President Carter will be there also, on Saturday.
BET will also offer live coverage of the President’s speech on Wednesday, August 28, cutting into regular BET programming at 3 p.m. Eastern, on the actual anniversary date. Also on that day, there will be a “Let Freedom Ring” tribute, a worldwide ringing of bells to commemorate the ideals of justice and freedom that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King stood for.
“We’re going to make this a story – let’s do it,” says Lee.
(Photo: Retna)
