Thousands of demonstrators descend on the nation’s capital on Friday to demand an overhaul to the nation’s criminal justice system and push for …
Thousands of demonstrators descend on the nation’s capital on Friday to demand an overhaul to the nation’s criminal justice system and push for racial equality at the same site Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for those same reforms decades ago in his iconic « I Have A Dream Speech. » Like the 1963 March on Washington, organizers opened with a series of speeches at the Lincoln Memorial before attendees plan to march through the streets of the city, this time ending at the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. This march – dubbed « Get Your Knee Off Our Necks » — comes at a particularly tense time as frustration over police brutality and use of force have sparked national outrage following the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Watch the livestream below. A common theme throughout the march was a call to action for attendees to register and to vote in the fall elections. Several of the speakers led the crowds in chants of « No Justice! No Peace! » And repeated the refrain that « Black Lives Matter. » At one point some in the crowd could be overheard saying « hands up, don’t shoot. » « We are in unprecedented, uncertain times, » Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., told the crowd. « Yes, it is possible to legislate justice and accountability, people over profits, joy over trauma, freedom over fear. Yes, it is possible to write budgets that actually value black lives, » she said.
