Reportback from Justice For All March against police murder
On the 13th of December, a march estimated by some at around 50,000 people from Freedom Plaza to the US Capitol protested the recent string of police murders of unarmed young African-American men. The "Hands up, don't shoot" and "I can't breathe" chants were heard often, referring to the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson and the chokehold death of Eric Garner in NYC.
March organizers got a surprise when activists who had come to DC all the way from Ferguson but not been invited by Al Sharpton's team to speak took over the microphone. As they went onstage the crowd chanted "let them speak," while organizers first tried to drag them off the stage, then resorted to trying to shout them down.
When the rally ended and the march began, the lead contingent included the mothers of some of the young men and boys murdered by police. A lot of people marched ahead of the lead contingent, however, making the start of the march itself hard to make out in the crowd.
Another march in New York City was also reported to draw about 50,000 people. A banner in that march read "real thugs wear flag pins." There was also a very ugly incident in Berkley, CA where racists disliking the protests put an "I can't breathe" T-shirt on a dummy and hung it from what appears to be an ornamental gate. This incident goes to show that KKK style racism is still alive and well outside as well as inside police departments. In Ferguson Anonymous has charged that a "ghoul squad" of KKK members has infiltrated the St Louis Police Department. In light of this ugly reality one sign at the Justice For All March asked for UN intervention against killer cops in the US.
At around 7PM some demonstrators headed towards the actual US Capitol grounds that the main march evidently avoided. US Capitol Police set a police line blocking them. There was also an unconfirmed report of another group of protesters blocking I-395 at about 6PM.
Video-Scenes from Justice For All march
Youtube video-Eric Garner's mother speaks at Justice For All rally
Unfortunately this sign remains accurate, as shown by the dummy hanged by racists in Berkeley wearing an "I can't breathe" T-shirt
Photo by Sugniss, appears to be from NYC march on same day
Ryan J Reilly photo of US Capitol Police line at about 7PM
Comments
Fact Check
I was there. The crowd at the biggest was less than 10 thousand. Sharpton's network, Joe Madison, WPGC, some churches, campuses, etc. It could have been bigger if more people knew it was happening.
Reply to self
Ok it was maybe 20,000 during the march. The point is to try and not make up numbers.The interesting part was the stage takeover by the younger people, who put this issue on the map...instead of letting it continue to slide. Some older people got upset at certain words being used that might be different from "acceptable" tactics of the past. A tactic is a tactic. After many many police killings of young Black males, there was no Ferguson until there was....
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