Groups were converging on the nation’s capital Friday to march for law enforcement reform and voting rights as America reels from police killings of Black people this year that fueled protests …
Groups were converging on the nation’s capital Friday to march for law enforcement reform and voting rights as America reels from police killings of Black people this year that fueled protests across the country. The Get Your Knee Off Our Necks Commitment March on Washington, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network, or NAN, is marking the 57th anniversary of the historic March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his « I Have A Dream » speech. Sharpton first announced the march at the funeral of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died on Memorial Day when a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The march, Sharpton said, will lobby for lawmakers to pass federal legislation that he believes will help Black Americans gain equality. He wants the U. S. Senate to take up the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would end certain police practices such as the use of no-knock warrants and chokeholds, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which targets racial discrimination of voters. The U. S. House has passed both bills, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to bring them up for a vote.
