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WASHINGTON DC (VG) The son was shot seven in the back. On Friday, the father of thousands of protesters spoke at which Martin Luther King, jr. said the “I have a dream” speech 57 years ago.
At the place where Martin Luther King spoke 57 years ago, Jacob Blake’s father appeared at the rallies just days after Wisconsin police shot his son.
– My father was also in this place. It is an important celebration in my life and it is my duty to be here. I came here for this celebration and I have no choice but to continue here, says Jacob Blake, a senior at VG.
When you see all the young people who have attended the rally tonight, you think they represent the future.
– They are here because they need to be here and do what they have to do. I am an old man, but I am trying to improve it. My son is young and may have to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. So I have to support him as long as he lives.
N.B. Strong footage from when Jacob Blake was shot in the back by the police.
The father further says that the son is still chained to the hospital bed with handcuffs, even though he is paralyzed from the waist down.
– He’s not a threat to anyone. I wasn’t angry the first time I walked into the room, I was just angry when I saw that I was tied up. They shot my son seven times and then tied him to a bed. They paralyzed my beloved son in front of his children. How am I supposed to understand that?
– What did Jacob say to you when you visited him?
– He said he loved me. When he grabbed my hand, he cried and said, “Dad, why did they shoot me so many times?” So I replied, “Honey, you should never have been shot.” No way.
N.B. The family’s lawyer told Reuters late Friday that Blake is no longer wearing handcuffs.
To understand why the protests are spreading across the country, he thinks we need to turn our attention to Donald Trump.
– It’s Trump who makes it burn. Sting the flames of hatred.
“I have a dream”
HISTORICAL MOMENT: Martin Luther King called for equal rights for all American citizens during his speech in Washington DC on August 28, 1963.
Friday marks 57 years since the so-called March on Washington for jobs and freedom. It was here that one of the most famous and significant speeches in the world was delivered, in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.
“I have a dream that one day my four young children will live in a country where they are not judged by the color of their skin, but by who they are,” King told the 250,000 in 1963.
Although African Americans have since been granted the right to vote and segregation has come to an end, racism still lives on in the United States.
The last few months have really shown it, with the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and, more recently, the shooting of Jacob Blake (29) in Wisconsin.
Marks one of America’s worst lynchings
The Black Lives Matter protests have spread across the country, and on Friday the movement will occupy Washington DC
Civil rights activists Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III (one of King’s four sons) headline the event, titled “Take Your Knees Off Your Neck,” in reference to how police have kept several African Americans on the ground, after which they have said “I can’t breathe.”
“We condemn the looting, but we ask ourselves: when will the authorities condemn the shooting and killing of the police,” civil rights activist Al Sharpton said from the scene in Washington.
Read the interview: Joyce Ladner organized the march in 1963, now she believes in change
Friday is also the day of the death of Emmet Till, who was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955. The lynching of the 14-year-old African-American is seen as the beginning of the fight for civil rights.
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Six Blacks Tell VG: This Is American Racism
I think the protests will affect the elections.
Also on Thursday, when President Donald Trump delivered his controversial speech from the White House in which he thanked Republicans for his reelection to four new years, there were protests over racism in Washington D.C. There, protesters told VG that Trump had divided the country, and called it racist.
The issue of racism seems to be one of the great themes of the electoral campaign. This is what Todd Belt, professor of political science at George Washington University, tells VG.
– Often questions about civil rights disappear from the public quite quickly, but this time the protests persist and there are constantly new cases of police violence against blacks. I think the Black Lives Matter movement will keep the pressure going throughout the election campaign, he said in a previous interview.