By Kevin Aldridge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The son of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will travel to Cincinnati Thursday to speak at a rally commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.

Martin Luther King III

It is also close to the 40th anniversary of the largest civil-rights demonstration in Cincinnati history.

Martin Luther King III, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, is expected to be joined by actor and singer Harry Belafonte and former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney as keynote speakers at the event in Eden Park. The civil-rights rally will take place from 5-9 p.m. at Seasongood Pavilion.

King helped organize a national rally that drew thousands to Washington D.C. last weekend to commemorate the march and his father's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Thursday's rally will mark the day the original March on Washington was held: Aug. 28, 1963.

THE SPEECH ONLINE

• See and hear Dr. King deliver his "I Have A Dream" speech. The Associated Press offers black & white video of the 16-minute speech. After the intro, click on the "VIDEO" link. Explore the other links to learn more about the 1963 March on Washington. • Audio only of the speech at historychannel.com. • Audio excerpts of the speech at webcorp.com. • The text of the speech at mecca.org

King said his message to Cincinnatians would follow his father's teaching that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

"I can't be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, because our destinies are tied together," King said Tuesday. Thursday's rally will also commemorate the biggest civil-rights demonstration in Cincinnati history: "March for Jobs and Freedom," on Oct. 27, 1963.

About 30,000 people marched, sang and chanted their way from Washington Park to Fountain Square and Government SquareBishop W.E. Crumes Jr., 89, organized and directed the Jobs and Freedom March. Crumes said people at that time were inspired and still feeding off of the Washington D.C. march.

"To get a group out like we did then, I don't think they could do that now," he said. "Back then we were all in the same boat. Now, I think the haves don't always understand the have nots."

E-mail kaldridge@enquirer.com