WASHINGTON
Downtown Washington was flooded by a sea of protesters that took to the nation’s capital Saturday to denounce what they say are injustices in America’s judicial system.
As they marched towards the U.S. Capitol, familiar chants of “Hands up, don’t shoot,” “Black lives matter,” and “I can’t breathe” filled Pennsylvania Ave.
Just blocks in front of the Capitol, Reverand Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network organized the mass rally, called for federal legislation to ensure that cases of police violence are properly prosecuted.
“We need national legislation and intervention to save us from state grand juries that say it is alright to choke people, even on tape, and you won’t bring them to court,” he said referring to the controversial choking death of Eric Garner, 43.
A New York grand jury declined on Dec. 3 to indict white police officer Daniel Pantaleo for using an apparent chokehold while attempting to arrest Garner for allegedly selling illegal cigarettes outside of a Staten Island store.
Sharpton was speaking before a crowd of black, white, young and old protesters who came to Washington to denounce police killings of unarmed black men across the nation.
Lesley McSpadden, the mother of 18 year-old Michael Brown whose death in Ferguson, Missouri ignited fierce demonstrations, hailed the importance of the rally.
“If they don’t see this and make a change, then I don’t know what we got to do,” she said. “Thank you for having my back.”
Busayo Bird-Maqubela, a 12 year-old demonstrator, recalled the shooting of Tamir Rice who was killed by police while holding a toy gun.
“I’m out here because I’m 12. Tamir Rice was 12. I used to be like, oh, it was Trayvon, he’s 17, I’ve got five more years to live. No, it’s not. It’s an everyday problem, and I have to walk out here in fear of my life,” he said.
Rice’s Nov. 22 shooting was ruled a homicide, the county medical examiner said Friday.
In New York, thousands of protesters converged on Manhattan's Washington Square Park at 2 p.m. and headed north to midtown. They planned to turn downtown at West 32nd Street on Sixth Avenue to finish at New York Police Department headquarters near the Brooklyn Bridge in lower Manhattan.
Family members of people killed by New York police over the last decade led the peaceful march, carrying a long sign that read "Black Lives Matter."
Others were seen holding signs with messages such as "Jail Killer Cops," "Ferguson Is Everywhere" and "I Can't Breathe," Garner's last words.
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