Friday is the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington that most famously included the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech, and despite the pandemic, there will be another march on Washington. The Get Your Knee Off Our Necks March on Washington is going forward—though it will be smaller than hoped for after Mayor Muriel Bowser warned visitors that the District of Columbia’s 14-day quarantine would apply to visitors from high-risk states.
The march, which was planned following the police killing of George Floyd, will include speeches by Martin Luther King III, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and the families of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Trayvon Martin at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, followed by a march to the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial. Organizers have said they expect 50,000 people despite the cancellation of buses from high-risk states.
The event calls for the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2020 to be passed into law, and for police reform legislation in honor of Floyd.
One group of people walked 750 miles from Milwaukee to attend the march, with a group of 20 joined by others along their journey and arriving 70 strong, The Washington Post reports. Those gathering as the event began also included parents of victims of police brutality whose names have not become widely known, and people who traveled long distances to attend their first protest, or their first in many years. Marchers are required to be masked and to have their temperatures checked.
Notably, this march against brutality and for justice comes the morning after Donald Trump appropriated the White House and Washington Monument to promote his candidacy, which stands for brutality and against justice.
