march anywhere in washington. think about an orchestra, a symphony, how you get to the crescendo and martin luther king was the crescendo. so it was pretty hard for if you looked beyond the speeches to think, well, what is it about that crowd that seems so important? standing in back of us at the base of the lincoln statue, the most memorable moments for me was looking that way, particularly having been a part of organizing the march, over whom held great doubt and seeing that as far as the eye could see, i could not see the last person. somehow, out of whole cloth, a march had been created. this is so incredibly important, that i want to underline again. i spoke with my father and his twin brother.
and nobody has talked up in advance the possibility of violence. so as you just pointed out, all of the violence up to this moment had been against demonstrators, against civil rights activists, and yet the question was, are you guys going to come here and riot? segregation was government policy. it was a part of the structure of our society at that time. the march on washington, the military had locked down the airport, transit and bus stations. they coraled the five military bases in this area, including the naval base. they put police on 18-hour shifts. and evened that black and whites in the same police car for the first time. they closed the liquor stores for the first time since prohibition. canceled major league baseball. canceled two games of major league baseball. they went wild. but the feel wuss to go from texas to florida, when you can t use a public toilet.
appropriations and legislation addressed growing poverty. indeed. thank you so much, reverend jackson. you guys are so great. this is a good deal! we will return in just a bit. congresswoman eleanor holmes norton is going to join us, next. we ll be right back with more of our special coverage of the 50th anniversary of the march on washington, live from washington, d.c. it starts with something little, like taking a first step. and then another. and another. and if you do it. and your friends do it. and their friends do it. soon we ll be walking our way to awareness, support and an end to alzheimer s disease. and that? that would be big. grab your friends and family and start a team today. register at alz.org
the struggle for every american to join in. welcome back to msnbc s live coverage of the 50th anniversary march on washington. i want to bring in now msnbc s mara schiavocampo, who is out along the march rail, apparently with someone who was here 50 years ago. mara? do we have mara? reporter: okay, sorry, we have a little bit of a technical problem. it s good to be on with you now. buses have been dropping people off all morning. the crowds are starting to gather here around the reflecting pool. just by eyeballing the crowd, it looks like several thousand people are already here. the march is set to get underway in just a few hours. and one of the people i want to talk to now is beverlyall st al. she was at the march 50 years ago, when she was 12 years old. you ve brought with you some of the original programming material. tell me what you have here? that s right, mara.
understand, two that did at ohio state. what is, as it was the march for jobs and freedom, what is the status of the job environment for daughters like yours? it s difficult at the moment, but we are here because we want them to be encouraged. we want them to know that it s going to be okay. as long as they continue to fight and not forget from whence we ve come. reporter: we appreciate you guys being with us. if i can, very quickly, introducing you to one other individual you ve met. la tanya cabot from not far away in virginia. your family, your mom is from little rock, arkansas. you said, in your own church, you have members of the little rock nine. why are you here? i am here to represent my family. they re originally from the midwest, but i want to show that i can be here, since i live close by, and that for dr. martin luther king, i wanted to come out and support and meet other families from different states that was here 50 years ago. and you said today is about