FXNEWS24 |The “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” March on Washington in pictures

Fifty-seven years after Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on the 1963 March on Washington, 1000's of protesters for racial justice once more gathered

Fifty-seven years after Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on the 1963 March on Washington, 1000’s of protesters for racial justice once more gathered on the Nationwide Mall in Washington, DC. It was an emotional day of protesting towards police violence, the fruits of a summer time of nationwide protests within the wake of George Floyd’s demise.

12-year-old Yolanda Renee King, the granddaughter of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., speaks from the spot the place her grandfather delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech 57 years in the past on the Lincoln Memorial.

Rev. Al Sharpton, who first introduced the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” March at Floyd’s funeral in June, spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, alongside the households of Black individuals who have been killed by police in latest reminiscence.

“For too lengthy, you acted like we didn’t matter,” Sharpton advised the gang. “They are saying, ‘Nicely, all people issues.’ However all people hasn’t mattered the identical in America. The rationale we had and we nonetheless need to say ‘Black Lives Matter’ is as a result of we get much less well being care, like we don’t matter. We go to jail longer for a similar crimes, like we don’t matter . . . Black lives matter, and we gained’t cease till it issues to all people.”

Floyd’s sister, Bridgett Floyd additionally addressed march-goers, asking them to hold on the legacy her brother created in demise. “My brother can’t be a voice at the moment,” Floyd mentioned. “We now have to be that voice, we’ve got to be that change.”

Bridgett Floyd, the sister of George Floyd, who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis, is flanked by Rev. Al Sharpton, one of many organizers of Friday’s march. Floyd requested America to think about “Would your future generations keep in mind you to your complacency, your inaction, or would they keep in mind you to your empathy, your management, your ardour for removing the injustices and evil on this planet?”

Portrait of Rep. Ayanna Pressley wearing a mask stating “Good Trouble” — Rep. Ayanna Pressley, pictured right here sporting a masks honoring her late colleague John Lewis’s commandment, spoke Friday about “the justice-seekers, the Freedom Riders, the organizers, the neighborhood builders,” whose work this protest constructed upon.

The march was deliberate earlier than 29-year-old Jacob Blake was shot seven instances within the again by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, triggering one other spherical of mass protests. Blake’s father, Jacob Blake, Sr. advised the Washington crowd that they have been holding courtroom over racism in America, announcing it “responsible, responsible, responsible.” Different audio system drove dwelling the necessity to vote this November.

Breanna Taylor’s mom, Tamika Palmer, thanked those that are working in direction of justice for her daughter’s demise after being shot by Louisville, Kentucky, police in a no-knock raid. “What we want is change,” Palmer mentioned. “And we’re at a degree the place we are able to get that change, however we’ve got to face collectively, we’ve got to vote.”

Walter Carter, 74, of Woodbridge, Virginia. attends Friday’s march, 57 years after he attended the unique March on Washington.

Organizers took care to forestall unfold of Covid-19, mandating that attendees put on a masks and doing temperature checks for anybody getting into the protest space across the Nationwide Mall.

Folks have their temperature checked earlier than entry to the March on Washington.

However the urgency of the second pulled such an enormous crowd that 1000’s of protesters crammed the world outdoors the temperature checks, and it grew to become tougher to socially distance inside the protest space itself because the afternoon progressed.

Crowds descend upon the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the course of the Dedication March.

Demonstrators collect on the Lincoln Memorial and alongside the Reflecting Pool.

Temperatures within the 90s didn’t appear to discourage the crowds both, with many protesters wading into the reflecting pool to assist cool off.

Attendees stand within the reflecting pool close to the Lincoln Memorial, certainly one of them holding an indication roughly quoting Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

The march sought to resume the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic “I’ve a dream” speech from 1963, which he gave in entrance of 250,000 demonstrators. That march ultimately led to the Civil Rights Act, a sweeping set of legal guidelines banning discrimination on the idea of race, faith, intercourse, and nationwide origin throughout areas of public life, like housing, employment, and public lodging.

Whether or not the 2020 model achieves substantial legislative change stays to be seen.

One demonstrator in the crowd in front of the MLK Memorial holds a sign urging people to “Vote early.” — Individuals within the March on Washington conclude their march from the Lincoln Memorial to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial August 28, 2020 in Washington, DC.

The “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” March on Washington in pictures

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