- Floyd’s family and the Rev. Al Sharpton are expecting 100,000 to attend a new March on Washington in August to push for criminal justice reform on the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s original march on Washington….
The Rev. Al Sharpton announced Thursday [ June 4th] he is organizing a march in Washington, D.C., to take place on August 28th, the 57th anniversary of the historic March on Washington to “restore and recommit that dream.”
“We’re going back to Washington,” Sharpton declared when giving his eulogy at the funeral of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who suffocated last week after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground with his knee.
Floyd’s death has sparked demonstrations in cities around the country, and world, with protesters calling for reform against police brutality and the criminal justice system.
“We going back to Washington, Martin,” Sharpton declared again, addressing Martin Luther King III, the son of the civil rights leader, in the crowd. “That’s where your father stood in the shadows of the Lincoln Memorial and said, ‘I have a dream.’ “
Sharpton called to restore and recommit to the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., saying, they were going back in August “to stand up, because just like in one era, we had to fight slavery. Another era, we had to fight Jim Crow. Another era, we dealt with voting rights. This is the era to deal with policing and criminal justice.”
“We need to go back to Washington and stand up – black, white, Latino, Arab in the shadows of Lincoln and tell them ‘This is the time to stop this,’” he continued….