March on Washington

Fifty-seven years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington, the families of Black Americans shot or killed by police officers spoke at the same site Friday, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

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The march, organized by the National Action Network, was calling for racial justice and police reform.

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Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris recorded brief remarks for the march that played during the event on Friday.

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Other lawmakers spoke about the need to pass legislation crafted to confront racial injustice. Texas Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee asked the crowd, "how did this happen?" answering, "because of institutional racism." Lee urged for the passage of her bill H.R. 40, which would establish a commission to "study and develop reparation proposals for African-Americans."

Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, demanded that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 be fully restored. The act established federal oversight of election laws in states with a history of racial discrimination, but key sections of the legislation were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.

  CBS

Photos from NPR

Another big contrast to the RNC which carried on for the four days prior to the march, aside from the color of the faces, is the number of covid-protective masks.

The RNC ends Thursday...what happens Friday?

A civil rights rally timed to the 57th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s seminal “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered in 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, is expected to bring thousands to the same spot on Friday.

Headlined by the Rev. Al Sharpton, who will be joined by King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, and family members of several men and women who were killed by law enforcement officers, the [the Friday march — dubbed the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” March on Washington — ] will conclude a week of large-scale events in the nation’s capital, including days of protests and a fireworks display over the Washington Monument to mark the end of the Republican National Convention.

  MSN

Game on

The Rev. Al Sharpton, during his eulogy for George Floyd on Thursday afternoon, called for a march on Washington on Aug. 28, the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s original march on Washington during the Civil Rights Movement.

"We're going back to Washington," Sharpton told those who had gathered for Floyd's memorial service at North Central University in Minneapolis.

  The Hill

Game on.

“George Floyd’s story has been the story of black folks, because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed to be was because you kept your knee on our neck,” Sharpton said.

He continued: “What happened to Floyd happens every day in this country. … It’s time for us to stand up in George’s name and say ‘get your knee off our necks.’”

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Sharpton’s eulogy was centered around time, with the reverend at the beginning of his speech evoking Ecclesiastes 3, a Bible verse that reads: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

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Sharpton’s eulogy was centered around time, with the reverend at the beginning of his speech evoking Ecclesiastes 3, a Bible verse that reads: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

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The reverend also had a message for Washington lawmakers, warning them that there is no longer time for their excuses and “empty words and empty promises.”

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Sharpton asserted that the fact protests have been held around the world in Floyd’s name signal that, “it’s a different time.”

“America, this is the time of dealing with accountability in the criminal justice system,” Sharpton said.