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Police violence against blacks in the United States has hit the country hard in recent months. The protests continued to boil. On a historic day, thousands took to the streets
Thousands of people have demonstrated in Washington to end racism and police violence against black Americans. “Enough is enough,” African-American civil rights activist Al Sharpton, one of the rally organizers, told those gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in the heart of the US capital on Friday.
“We are calling for real, permanent structural change,” civil rights activist Martin Luther King III said at the rally. He is the eldest son of Martin Luther King Jr., who made his famous speech exactly 57 years a day with the words “I have a dream.” “We will make this dream come true,” Sharpton announced.
Pastor and civil rights activist Al Sharpton also spoke to the protesters. (Source: Jacquelyn Martin / dpa)
Martin Luther King III. asked African Americans to vote in the November 3 presidential election “as if our lives, livelihoods and freedoms depended on it, because it is.” As many as possible should also offer their assistance in conducting the election “so that every vote is counted.” “We must vigorously defend our voting rights because they have been bought with the blood of those who have been lynched for wanting to exercise their constitutional rights.” His daughter, Yolanda Renee King, 12, promised: “We will be the generation that will end this racism once and for all.”
Jacob Blake’s death sparked new protests
The rally was dedicated to the anniversary of the 1963 “March on Washington” and was dominated by recent police violence that sparked outrage in the United States. In particular, that was George Floyd’s death. He died while being arrested after a police officer held his knee to Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. Just over the weekend, seven shots in the back of black Jacob Blake during a police operation in the city of Kenosha (Wisconsin) sparked further protests.
“Without justice there is no peace!” Blake’s father exclaimed at the rally. The crowd repeated the slogan, which dates back to protests in the 1980s. There are two judicial systems in the United States: one for whites and one for blacks, criticized Jacob Blake Senior.
Sharpton referred to Floyd’s death during his performance: “We could be as successful as everyone else. But society kept its knee on our neck.” That must come to an end now. “I’m tired of asking for justice,” said activist Frank Nitty. “We have been marching with the same demands for 60 years. Blacks should no longer take to the streets for the same thing as Martin Luther King.”
Angelica Watson, 24, of Philadelphia, said her father and uncle were there for the 1963 march. “But we are still struggling with the same issues today,” she said. “The most important thing for me is equality, because the rest, all subsequent problems, originate there.
Crowds gather in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. (Source: Carolyn Kaster / AP / dpa)
High security measures, but kept calm
Many participants in the demonstration wore masks, even if many people were huddled against the recommendations of health experts. However, it was a contrast to President Donald Trump’s nomination speech on the White House lawn the day before, where the roughly 1,500 guests sat close to each other and hardly anyone was seen wearing a mask.
Before the day of the protest, the area around the White House had been secured with high fences and concrete bollards. Some nearby stores covered their windows with wood panels. After the demonstration, groups of protesters marched through the partially cordoned off city center. The situation remained calm.
Trump pardons African American woman
When the rally was almost over, word came from the White House, a few hundred yards away, that Trump had pardoned black American Alice Johnson. She was sentenced to life in prison in the 1990s for her involvement in drug trafficking and spent more than 20 years in prison. Her case is seen as an example of excessive harshness in the United States judicial system. Trump released Johnson from the remainder of the prison sentence after society celebrity Kim Kardashian spoke on her behalf. Johnson appeared this week in the Republican Congress that named Trump the presidential candidate.
Trump and Republicans are currently busy refuting allegations that the president is targeting racist voters. Meanwhile, Biden is popular with black voters as is Vice President Barack Obama. Many black Americans appeared at the Republican Convention. Trump himself said in his nomination speech Thursday night: “I say with great humility that I have done more for the African-American community than any president since Abraham Lincoln.” Under Lincoln, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States.
