Thousands call for racial justice on March on Washington anniversary -

Thousands gathered in Washington to commemorate the historic 1963 march, during which Martin Luther King Jr gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, amid ongoing protests against police brutality and racism.

Crowds built up over the course of the day, most wearing masks, with many carrying signs that read “black lives matter,” “I am a man,” the iconic civil rights movement slogan, or bore the names of black people shot by police.

Speakers called for police and justice reform at the event, dubbed “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” – a reference to George Floyd, a black man, who died after a white police officer pinned his knee on his neck in May.

On the 57th anniversary of his father’s historic speech, Martin Luther King III urged people to vote in November, a common theme at the event.

“There is a knee upon the neck of democracy and our nation can only live so long without the oxygen of freedom,” he said.

“Our strength must be exercised by more than rhetoric and more than marching,” he added.

He also noted the coronavirus pandemic had dispropotionately affected minority communities in the U.S., stressed a message of “love and community,” and encouraged activism.

“If you’re looking for a saviour, get up and find the mirror,” King said.

Civil rights advocate Reverend Al Sharpton, who announced the march as he delivered a eulogy for Floyd in June, pushed for federal legislation on racial equality.

“We will speak against the looting, but when will you speak against wrong police shooting?” he said, referring to the protests sparked by Floyd’s death that sometimes descended into looting.

Sharpton was joined by the families of the victims of police violence, including the father of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man who was left paralysed after being shot seven times by police in in Wisconsin.

“Every black person in the United States is gonna stand up. We’re tired!” the father said.

The speeches from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial were followed by a march to the Martin Luther King Jr memorial, amid hot and humid weather.

The event drew a mixed crowd, including people from Minnesota where Floyd was killed.

“My father and my uncle were at the march in 1963, so I came here today to be tethered to that memory, but we are still dealing with the same issues today,” Angelica Watson, 24, told dpa, adding that equality was the most important issue to her.

The shooting of Blake sparked several nights of protests and unrest in the Wisconsin city of Kenosha.

The events have occurred because of excessive use of force, lack of quick police reforms and lax firearm laws, according to the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva.

“It is our view that the dreadful events in the past few days in Kenosha are not only recurrent but highly preventable,” UN rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a press briefing.

Images from the Sunday police operation in which a black man, Jacob Blake, was severely injured in a police shooting suggested that officers resorted to unnecessary violence, Colville told a press briefing.

“It also seems highly possible that the force used against Blake could be discriminatory in nature,” he added.

On Thursday, a teenager was charged with murder after he allegedly shot two people to death and injured a third amid the protests and unrest that followed the Blake incident.

“It should be inconceivable that you have a 17-year-old running around with an automatic rifle in a position to shoot people in this way, in such a tense situation,” Colville said, calling for stricter gun control policies in the United States.

Colville also said police reforms had clearly not happened in Kenosha, even though authorities there had acknowledged problems following the death of George Floyd, a deadly police incident that took place in Minneapolis in May. (dpa/NAN)