Historic March on Washington August 28, 1963.

Fifty years ago this week, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his pivotal “I Have a Dream” speech in front of a crowd of over 250,000 civil rights supporters during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, 1963. It was one of the largest human rights political rallies in the country and was instrumental in advancing civil and political rights for decades to come.

This Wednesday, in honor of the 50^th anniversary of the march, neighborhood organizer Algernong Allen will hold an audio playing of Dr. King’s famous speech in Cedar Park on 49^th Street and Baltimore Avenue at 6:30 p.m. The event, titled “March on West Philly,” is free and open to the public.

While no formal discussion is planned for after the event, Allen encourages community residents to stay and discuss both the speech and strategies for advancing civil rights.

“I wanted to celebrate the beauty of the original March on Washington, and felt that others would like to be able to do the same in some way,” Allen wrote in an e-mail to West Philly Local. “I want people to walk away more connected, more neighborly to those neighbors who look different, and reminded that there is still work to do.”

Some progress has been made in the five decades since that historic march, but civil rights are still under threat from Voter ID laws introduced and passed through state governments, the disproportionate number of people of color incarcerated, disparity in wages between genders and races and law enforcement profiling. So Allen hopes that the event can also mobilize West Philly residents to work together “to cultivate and extend the borders of a good quality of life”—to continue the fight for Dr. King’s dream.

“To those on the front lines of the civil rights movement, we owe a debt. A debt which we repay by our continued diligence in creating a world for our children in which our society, marches toward the highest aspects of our humanity,” Allen said. “Dr. King’s speech symbolizes and articulates that.  This is how we can say thank you, and rebroadcast the message of the movement that inspired the man.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

UPDATE (8/28): The thief stole the cash register from Rx and the total stolen value is $200, according to police. The investigation continues.

Unfortunately, there was a break-in at another neighborhood restaurant. Someone smashed the front door at Rx The Farmacy at 45th and Spruce, a day after Pho & Cafe Saigon was similarly burglarized two blocks away.

Police were called to Rx restaurant just after 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning and found the glass front door smashed. When we went to the scene this morning, at around 8 a.m., the door was already boarded up (see photo below). It is unknown at this time if anything was taken from the restaurant. Please stay tuned for updates.

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) will hold a rally at the Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust) on Tuesday to protest cuts in school funding.

The rally is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. and is one of many events that the PFT is holding at neighborhood schools around the city in response to cuts in school funding. The PFT contract expires on Aug. 31.

Gov. Tom Corbett has made it clear that the state will contribute another $45 million to help close the $304 million budget shortfall if the union agrees in millions of dollars in concessions in its new contract.

The School District of Philadelphia laid off about 4,000 school personnel, including hundreds of teachers, in response to the budget crisis.

UPDATE (7:50 p.m.): Police confirmed the break-in at Pho & Cafe Saigon and said that the incident has been classified as a burglary. The suspect or suspects took $50 from the register, police said. They broke out the side window with a brick.

Earlier: We have received a report of an apparent break-in at Pho & Cafe Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant at 43rd and Spruce Streets, Monday morning. A neighbor, Helen, reports that someone tried to use a brick to smash the front door of the restaurant and another neighbor reportedly heard car crashing noises some time between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. The photos below show the restaurant door damaged and one of the windows smashed open. Helen says that she called the police at 8:30 a.m. We are trying to get more details.

Photos by Helen Hong.

Screen capture from surveillance video.

Police have released surveillance video of an apparent hit and run accident on 48th Street between Osage and Pine early Sunday morning and that left an unidentified 23-year-old woman critically injured. The video shows a taxicab with a large ad display on top and a dark stripe down the side, going very fast and dragging the victim along 48th Street shortly before 3 a.m. on Sunday. The cab fled the scene.

The victim was found lying face down and unconscious on the street with apparent head trauma. Police reported yesterday that the victim had a brain injury and was in “very critical” condition. If you have any information about the incident please call 686-TIPS or email: tips@phillypolice.com.

UPDATE (5:40 p.m.): Police report that the woman has a brain injury and is in “very critical” condition. She is 23 years old, according to CBS Philly. Police are still searching for the car that hit the woman and fled.

Earlier: Police are looking for witnesses to a hit-and-run accident that left a woman face down and unconscious in the middle of 48th Street between Pine and Osage early Sunday morning.

A neighbor who lives near the scene says that she woke early this morning, around 2:30 a.m., to people screaming outside her window and saw a woman lying in the middle of the street. The neighbor said the woman looked unresponsive and it looked like she had head trauma.

“It looked like she either had on flats or no shoes at all and only a cell phone (no purse, etc.),” the neighbor wrote by e-mail this morning.

“I heard a very loud and constantly pacing man saying that he just found her like that and almost drove over her,” she wrote. “He stayed until the last cop left the scene.”

Police tweeted that the woman was in critical condition and that they are looking for witnesses. If you saw something call 686-TIPS or write tips@phillypolice.com.