This weekend, a march is being held in Washington DC commemorating the historic March on Washington held this month 60 years ago – a march indelibly imprinted in the mind of this adolescent girl, along, no doubt, with many others of her generation.

The first march was considered radical and potentially dangerous, so much so that President John F. Kennedy, stayed away – nervous about attending. Instead, he watched and listened to the speeches being given at the Lincoln Memorial facing the National Mall through an open window from his White House office.

The march was seminal, laying the foundation for so much of the progress we’ve witnessed during our lives – including the election of a black man as President of the United States, something most of us felt was unimaginable in our lifetime. Thinking back on it all can elicit exhilarating moments.

And yet, it is completely disheartening to know that so much of what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others marched for that day – indeed, spent and gave their lives fighting for – we, as a people, are still having to fight ferociously for today.

Today the right and easy access, for all American citizens to vote, remains a battle. Young black men are still being killed indiscriminately. Health outcomes for black women and infants – challenged even more so now with the war against safe and legal access to abortion – lag way behind those of white women in the U.S., and many other countries in the world.

Today I listened to recordings of Sweet Honey in the Rock, a group I loved decades ago, but hadn’t thought much about lately, until I mentioned Bernice Johnson Reagon’s wonderful lyric in the last piece I posted here, speaking of how the music formed me. The music not only formed me, but fueled an entire movement of change.

I was reminded of the lyric again this week when a Facebook friend posted that she was “resigning – staying away” from being a public voice for social change, and I quoted them to my friend.

She responded that she was moving her voice into more artistic areas. I get it. I understand the burnout, but I say we bring who we are to our artistic work – whether it’s writing, singing, dancing, acting, creating beautiful food – at least I hope we always strive to do so. And again, I can’t help but think of the beautiful artistry speaking of social change in the work of Sweet Honey in the Rock, and indeed so many of the artists who raised their voices on that August day in 1963 and beyond. We need the artistry to fuel us and keep us going.

“We who believe in freedom cannot rest.”