“We can have a protest, share our voice in this moment, and still be safe,” Tylik McMillan, the national director of youth and college for NAN, told CNN in an interview Friday.
A march to demand police reform and justice
More than 200,000 people participated in the original March 1963, officially titled “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” which was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and others.
This year March in Washington – called the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” Commitment March – will repeat the demands for police reform, criminal justice reform, and racial equality.
At the age of 23, Lewis was one of the youngest keynote speakers in March of 1963. Decades later, he spoke as a statesman about the 50th anniversary of March in 2013.
NAN will also encourage attendees to complete the 2020 US Census, register to vote, and sign up to be pollsters and monitors.
A procession led by the families who ‘know the pain’
Announcing the march in June, Sharpton said it would be led by families who “know the pain” and know how it is “ignored”, including the families of Floyd and Eric Garner, a Black man who was choked to death in 2014 by a police officer in New York.
McMillian told CNN on Friday that the program is still being finalized. But expected speakers include Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, members of Congress and the families of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin.
The program will also target local DC families affected by police violence.
The procession begins at 1 a.m. ET from the Lincoln Memorial to the MLK Memorial, with the event closing at 3 p.m. ET.
A march with masks
Face masks are required to march. Masks, gloves and sanitizer will also be provided on site.
Participants will have access to the National Mall of 17th Street, where they will need to undergo a temperature check from a registered nurse or doctor.
Once a person has their face covered and temperature checked, they will receive a wristband and ticket for admission.
On the monument grounds, there will be attendees in ‘grids’, sections to maintain social distance that will be restricted.
Event volunteers and staff will “fully maintain” social distance, McMillian told CNN.
“We want to make sure we take all necessary precautions to protect people,” he said.
The application for the event permit had declared 100,000 expected attendees, and McMillan said the organization is still making preparations for many people to show up.
Instead, NAN encourages these people to stay in their home states and participate in the march, or participate in one of their satellite stories in South Carolina, Florida, Texas and Kentucky – “important states”, where they hope to put pressure on U.S. Republican senators to pass the suffrage legislation called for Lewis.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, Washington, DC has ordered a 14-day self-guarantee for visitors from “high-risk areas.”
Chris Rodriguez, director of DC’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said in a statement to CNN that the city government “continues to work closely with event organizers to ensure that individuals can exercise their right to protest peacefully.”
He noted that mass gatherings pose a risk of spreading the virus in the community and stressed that all residents and visitors must follow the mayor’s order and DC health guidelines.
CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.
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