March In Washington Draws Thousands Of Protesters Demanding Justice For All
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At 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, hundreds of people began to gather at the Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C. By noon, the crowd had swelled to thousands. The protesters began marching through the nation's capital to call for justice and decry racial discrimination in light of recent deaths of black men at the hands of police.
The crowd rallied through the city demanding "justice for all." The protest was a response to recent decisions by two separate grand juries in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, which declined to indict the white police officers responsible for the deaths of 18-year-old Michael Brown and 43-year-old Eric Garner.
The Justice for All march was led by the families of police shooting victims, including relatives of Garner, Brown, Tamir Rice, Akai Gurley and John Crawford.
The march was organized by the National Action Network, a civil rights organization led by Rev. Al Sharpton. Sharpton joined the families as they marched through Washington Saturday.
"Do not be silent. Do not be complacent. Do not continue to live with police misconduct and violence as somehow acceptable," Sharpton urged earlier this week in a piece he wrote for The Huffington Post.
"We are not anti-police; we are anti-police-brutality," Sharpton told protesters on Saturday. "And today we challenge Congress to follow in the president's footsteps and take legislative action to protect us, the citizens."
The mothers of Rice, Garner, Brown and Trayvon Martin appeared together in public for the first time Friday night. In a joint interview on CNN, the women spoke out against racial discrimination and argued that their sons might not have died if they had been white.
"If Eric Garner was a white man in Suffolk County doing the same thing that he was doing -- even if he would have been caught selling cigarettes that day -- they would have given him a summons and he wouldn't have lost his life that day ... I believe that 100 percent," Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
The deaths of these black men have become part of a narrative that many believe is all too common in the United States.
"We are together. We are united. We are standing. And we are going to fight this together," Sybrina Fulton, MArtin's mother, told the crowd before she began to lead the march. "You guys mean the world to us."
Garner's mother also approached the podium and praised the diversity of the crowd.
"Look at the masses," she said. "Black, white, all races, all religions ... we need to stand like this at all times."
In recent weeks, protesters around the country have participated in demonstrations to decry racial injustice and police brutality. Many of their signs and chants contain the slogan that has become synonymous with the movement: Black lives matter.
That same message was echoed by protesters who participated in Justice For All march in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. Here are some powerful images:
The slideshow below will be updated with images throughout the day.
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commecoco / Instagram
A protester stands in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC before a march agains police violence on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. -
lillyfromphilly / Instagram
Young protesters hold signs in Freedom plaza on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014. -
jmgiordanophoto / Instagram
A protestor in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. -
carlosfmcknight / Instagram
Protestors in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014. -
velovixen / Instagram
Protesters gather in Freedom Plaza for a march to the capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. -
jennrlyspeaking / Instagram
Protesters gather in Freedom Plaza before a march to the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. -
wellexaminedlife / Instagram
Protestors in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. -
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 -
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 -
tnxxigamma / Instagram
Protestors pose for a photo in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. -
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 -
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 -
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 -
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 -
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 -
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 -
kmoliver / Instagram
Protestors in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec, 13, 2014. -
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 -
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 -
katiemcinnis / Twitter
Georgetown Law students protest at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. -
hughadam / Instagram
Protesters in Freedom Plaza in Washigton, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. -
jarchine / Instagram
Protestors gather in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 -
handsum_lorde / Instagram
Protestors gather in Freedom Plaza before marching to the U.S. Capitol on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 in Washington, DC. -
thekjmoran / Twitter
Al Sharpton speaking to protesters gathered in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. -
thekjmoran / Twitter
Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir Rice speaks to people gathered in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014. -
ebostopolous / Instagram
Protesters march towards the U.S Capitol building on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 in Washington, DC. -
instacmr / Instagram
Filmmaker Spike Lee participates in a march in the U.S. Capitol building on Saturday, Dec. 13, 204 in Washington, DC. -
dickulous / Instagram
Protestors march down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.Posting as Sid Harth (Not you?)
Sid HarthI am all for justice. However protest marches cannot be the answer. In democracy, people have rights to elect (only) those who deliver the end product. In America, one has to be selective in making someone one's representative. From local elections to the national, wrong people get elected and they in turn, keep their power to discriminate. There cannot be two laws. One for the majority-old white Americans and the minority-section of society.
...and I am Sid Harth
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