December 15, 2014
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| Washington, DC |
The families of Trayvon, Michael, Eric and Tamir all gathered in Washington, DC and were joined by thousands of dedicated protesters who snaked up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol in a protest that was reminiscent of the ’60’s civil rights movement. Blacks, whites, young, old, the wealthy and the non-wealthy united in solidarity to deliver a powerful message: there will be no open season on the killing of black men.
“What a sea of people,” said Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown, who was killed by former police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO last August. “If they don’t see this and make a change, then I don’t know what we got to do.”
“This is a history-making moment,” said Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who was killed by Officer Daniel Pantaleo via a chokehold in Staten Island, NY. “It’s just so overwhelming to see all who have come to stand with us. Look at the masses — black, white, all races, all religions. We need to stand like this at all times.”
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| New York City |
The march in Washington was only the beginning, as tens of thousands more took to the streets of New York, Boston, San Francisco, Oakland and even London. The crowds marched in protest against the decisions of grand juries in Missouri and New York not to indict white police officers in the deaths of 2 unarmed black men, as well as against the jury that allowed George Zimmerman to walk free after killing Trayvon Martin.
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In Washington, marchers carried signs that read: “Black Lives Matter” and “Hold Cops Accountable.” Thousands marched in Boston, beginning at the Massachusetts State Capitol. In New York’s Washington Square Park, thousands more marched to police headquarters chanting “I can’t breathe” and “How do you spell racist: NYPD.” In London, at least 600 protesters staged a mass “die in” at the Westfield White City Shopping Centre for Eric Garner, completely shutting down the mall while trapping shoppers and workers inside.
These protests took place in city after city after city, with thousands and thousands of people and more protests to come. If public sentiment wasn’t clear before, it should be crystal clear now.
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| London, England |
“The collective self-esteem that’s happening with these young people is really powerful,” said writer and frequent CNN guest Michaela Angela Davis. “They know they are part of history.”
“I stand here as a black man who is afraid of the police, who is afraid of never knowing when my life might end, never knowing when I might be gunned down by a vigilante or a security guard or a police officer,” said marcher Ahmad Greene-Hayes.
“If Eric Garner was a white man in Suffolk County doing the same thing that he was doing — even if he would have been caught selling cigarettes that day — they would have given him a summons and he wouldn’t have lost his life that day,” his mother, Gwen Carr said. “I believe that 100 percent.”
“I think absolutely my son’s race and the color of his skin had a lot to do with why he was shot and killed,” Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin said. “In all of these cases, these victims were unarmed. These victims were African-American. That needs to be our conversation.”
Oh I'm sorry I missed this. I saw on the news that maybe a million people took a part in it. If anybody thinks this is a fad that's going away guess again. This is a public wake up call to America. I'm glad to see people sticking together for a worthy cause.