Exhibit 42 - March on Washington: Sharpton bemoans 'broken promises' as thousands march in D.C.
Summary
Exhibit 42, Document 4-42 in Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM, filed September 22, 2020, is a news article dated August 28, 2020 headed March on Washington: Sharpton bemoans 'broken promises' as thousands march in D.C., with a long list of bylined reporters. It reports that thousands of protesters gathered Friday at the Lincoln Memorial to call for criminal justice restructuring and racial equality on the 57th anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" address, and that the march went from the Lincoln Memorial to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The closing portion reports road closures, and says organizers initially thought at least 100,000 people would gather while a permit issued Tuesday indicates about 50,000 are expected.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
Cite this document
“Exhibit 42 - March on Washington: Sharpton bemoans 'broken promises' as thousands march in D.C.”
Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/gov-uscourts-dcd-222397-4-42-1-b1d55ac630/
, SHA-256 ab1247960b34b1a5a79d85ecc229eb857ab961da68ba35eafc336f0f21e3c225.Full text
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 1 of 49
EXHIBIT 42
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washin… Page 1 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 2 of 49
Democracy Dies in Darkness
March on Washington: Sharpton bemoans
‘broken promises’ as thousands march in
D.C.
By Patricia Sullivan, Lori Aratani, Dana Hedgpeth, Emily Davies, Lola Fadulu, Marissa J. Lang,
Meagan Flynn, Julie Zauzmer, Justin George, Teddy Amenabar, Kyle Swenson,
Jessica Contrera, Katie Mettler, Peter Jamison, Michelle Boorstein, Michael Brice-Saddler,
Samantha Schmidt, Tom Jackman, Justin Wm. Moyer, Rebecca Tan, Clarence Williams and
Fredrick Kunkle
August 28, 2020 9:39 p.m. EDT
Thousands of protesters gathered Friday at the Lincoln Memorial to call for overall criminal
justice restructuring and racial equality while honoring the 57th anniversary of the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” address from the same location.
Planning began in June after the funeral of George Floyd. Organizers said they wanted to
highlight the civil rights issues of today and bring well-known speakers to address the crowd
while also mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus with strict safety protocols.
The march — dubbed the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” Commitment March on Washington —
began with speeches from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which was followed by a coordinated
march to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in West Potomac Park.
Here are some significant developments:
• As the Rev. Al Sharpton took the podium, an area kept socially
distanced since 7 a.m. became crowded with protesters who held up
their phones to record his speech.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washin… Page 2 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 3 of 49
• Martin Luther King III followed his young daughter by saying that while
this march marks the anniversary of his father’s famous American
Dream, “We must never forget the American nightmare.”
• The memory of late civil rights icon John Lewis loomed large, his
influence palpable in almost every corner of the demonstration. It was
rare for a speech to end without an ode to the late congressman or a
reference to his iconic quote about “good trouble.”
• Joined by other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep.
Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) called on Congress to pass the George Floyd
Justice in Policing Act, which bans police officers from using chokeholds
and no-knock warrants. The bill has already passed the House.
9:39 p.m.
The live blog is closed
Please follow The Post’s continuing coverage of the March on Washington here.
By Tom Jackman
9:31 p.m.
Rain leaves few protesters at BLM Plaza
By 9:15 p.m., the rain had driven all but a few protesters from Black Lives Matter Plaza. Those
who remained shouted at police guarding St. John’s Episcopal Church, yelling familiar slogans
like “Quit your job!” and “Hands up, don’t shoot!”
One woman shouted that the crowd should change the slogan to a new one: “Hands up, shoot
back!”
Months of protest had brought no change, she said.
“We’ve been out here doing the same things!” she said. “I’ll be the first one to say it!”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washin… Page 3 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 4 of 49
Beneath construction scaffolding near 15 and H streets, a young man lay passed out. Protesters
passed him, eyeing him uneasily.
“We should try to get him out of the rain,” one said.
“Is there a blanket?” asked another.
A woman walked to him and placed a “Defund the Police” sign on his legs, where drips from the
scaffolding above were falling. Another protester brought him a Gatorade.
“Put it where someone won’t take it!” one said.
So the protester placed the Gatorade between the man’s arms before the group walked on.
By Justin Wm. Moyer
9:10 p.m.
Long day of marching ends with emotion outside the
African American museum
As night fell, a group of around 200 protesters who had shut down Interstate 395 and scuffled
with police officers on South Capitol Street ended their hours-long march in front of the National
Museum of African American History and Culture. Drenched and exhausted, they gathered in the
middle of the street, again blocking traffic.
“I want my 40 acres and a mule,” Kevin Cramer, a 25-year-old consultant and one of the march
organizers said into a microphone.
Black people had every right to protest given their role in American history, he said.
“If I built it,” he said, “I can burn it down.”
Next up was Bethlehem Yirga, a teacher at Elliot-Hine Middle School in the District, who
apologized to the crowd for being hoarse.
“I lost my voice,” she said, but continued, even as tears began to fall down her face.
Yirga, 35, said she’d lost 27 students to gun violence in 10 years. Little seemed to be changing.
“When did this go up, someone fact-check me,” she said pointing to the gleaming museum.
“2015,” a woman in the crowd said, mistakenly, of the museum that opened a year later.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washin… Page 4 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 5 of 49
“We built this country on our backs and we got that museum in 2015,” Yirga said. Yirga wept as
she pleaded for her 3-year-old daughter not to have to grow into the same conditions as she did.
“She should not have to live this life,” Yirga said, tears continuing to stream down her face. “Why
do we have to do this? Why do we have to do this?”
Cramer concluded the march with a prayer. And they drifted off into the darkness, but not before
making plans to protest again the next day.
By Michael Miller and Michael Brice-Saddler
8:15 p.m.
Protesters splinter throughout the city as storms pass and
night falls
After a day of peaceful marches and speeches on the Mall, smaller pockets of protesters and
demonstrators remained scattered throughout downtown Washington. As night fell and torrential
rains passed, splinter groups spread out through the city, blocked traffic, yelled at police and
continued to demand social justice.
Groups at the Wharf in Southwest Washington blocked cars around 7 p.m., with some trying to
get a driver out to march with them. Shortly later, about 200 protesters started walking on a ramp
onto Interstate 395 before police on bikes followed. A brief standoff ensued, including what
appeared to be a demonstrator pushing an officer. The group blocked the interstate before
leaving.
At Black Lives Matter Plaza, a small burst of tension sparked just before 8 p.m., with a handful of
rowdy protesters yelling at police outside St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Other groups continued to remain peaceful, including about 150 demonstrators listening to
impassioned speeches near the National Museum of African American History and Culture later
in the evening.
Some said they planned to regroup at Black Lives Matter Plaza and Freedom Plaza later in the
night for more rallies.
By Michael Miller, Rebecca Tan and Michael Brice-Saddler
7:30 p.m.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washin… Page 5 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 6 of 49
He was in the 5th grade when MLK was killed. Today, he
came to D.C. to watch history in the making.
Greg Mills was sitting in class on that April day in 1968, halfway through his lessons, when his
fifth-grade teacher abruptly stopped teaching and sent the kids home. School officials in
Greensboro, N.C., didn’t explain why, but his mother did: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had
been killed, and riots had begun downtown.
“She came running up to us and said, ‘There’s trouble in the streets, get home!’” Mills recalled
Friday, sitting outside the World War II Memorial. He displayed a painting he made for the
march.
“People were so angry,” he said. “They didn’t feel heard. Just like today.”
On Friday, he stood next to his creation, fist raised, repeating the Toni Morrison quote depicted
on the brightly painted piece to passersby: “The function of freedom is to free someone else.”
As streams of protesters made their way back from hours of speeches at the Lincoln Memorial,
several stopped to snap pictures and marvel at the work. Mills began painting it, he said, the day
the Rev. Al Sharpton announced the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” march. Thursday night, he
bent over the piece in his home in Harlem, coloring in letters, putting on the finishing touches.
“It’s supposed to be provocative,” Mills said. “To make people stop and think.”
He later migrated north, landing in upper Manhattan. Earlier this year, he was one of several New
Yorkers drafted to paint the words “Black Lives Matter” on a Harlem street. How far that moment
felt from the reality of the little boy he had been, attending a segregated school in a Southern city.
Friday’s march, Mills said, felt to him like another step forward.
“We have to be like termites — keep at it until the foundation propping all this inequality up starts
to crumble,” he said.
Though he wasn’t able to get inside the buffer to see the speakers up close, he said, he listened to
their voices carry over the Mall and found comfort in watching the waves of young people wander
in and out.
“They’re the ones who will carry on,” Mills said. “It means so much for me to see that. It feels like
we can almost exhale.”
By Marissa Lang
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washin… Page 6 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 7 of 49
7:21 p.m.
In the downpour, cops and demonstrators caught under the
same overpass
When the skies opened up at around 6 p.m., a group of about 400 marchers heading south on
12th Street scrambled to take cover under the closest place available: the Interstate 395 overpass.
As heavy rains came down, the marchers began to chant, sing and dance — a few of them skipping
in the rain, with their hands to the heavens — as others strummed guitars or banged on drums
and frying pans. It was a carnival atmosphere, as a few marchers lit marijuana cigarettes and
others ate snacks from dollies protesters had pushed across town.
One young male protester with a megaphone began spray-painting anti-police messages on the
tile walls.
At the other end of the tunnel, about 50 yards away, a dozen police officers watched, the two
groups equally immobilized by the downpour.
As the man spray-painted, drawing the gaze of the officers, some protesters called for those with
bikes to block the officers’ view.
In the no-man’s land between the two groups, strange stragglers meandered: a man with a pillow
under his shirt and a pig mask that he lifted just long enough to emit pungent smoke, and an
older man who was following the group but took offense at a marcher’s passionate call to defund
police.
“I don’t think I agree with what he said,” the older man said.
At around 6:30, the clouds parted and the demonstrators started walking again — the bike
officers not far behind.
By Michael Miller
7:10 p.m.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washin… Page 7 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 8 of 49
Coast to coast, protester sees differences
Sheltering from the storm on the National Archives colonnade, Jaylen Welch, 18, reflected on the
year he’s had. When he started his senior year of high school in Gresham, Ore., a Portland suburb,
he never imagined he’d witness violent protests there — then fly to D.C. for a historic march just
days before he starts his freshman year at a community college.
Protesting has become a “hobby,” he said.
“Even when I’m not protesting, I’m behind the scenes,” he said. “It’s already opened doors.”
Though he came from a city that’s seen startling clashes between police, antifa and white
nationalists, Welch was impressed with D.C.’s protest game. One major thing was different: Black
people. Not just Black people protesting, but Black police officers.
Where he’s from, cops don’t look like him.
“There are more Black police officers here than I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said. Of protesters, he
added: “They’re driven. I feel they’re out for the cause. Black lives matter to them.”
When the rain stopped, Welch walked down the stairs of the Archives into the street. The group
he was with had attempted to block the Ninth Street tunnel but had been foiled by rain. But
tonight, protesters were gathering at Black Lives Matter Plaza at 11 p.m., and he said he would be
there to see what happens.
By Justin Wm. Moyer
7:05 p.m.
Visitors from Dayton, Ohio, offer to support protesters as
they shut down highway
Just before protesters turned down the Whitehurst Freeway, a mom and her two grown daughters
from Dayton, Ohio, leaned over the concrete barricade and called out to the marchers.
“Does anyone need a med kit?” the women asked.
Brittany King, 30, Kristen King, 36, and Patti King, 64, all White, and still wearing neon-green
wristbands from events earlier in the day, said they had brought the medical supplies just in case.
“I mean, we watch the news,” Brittany quipped.
“We know what’s been going on,” Kristen added.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washin… Page 8 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 9 of 49
The march, they said, was powerful, peaceful and inspiring.
At the event, billed as a “commitment march” meant to underscore participants’ dedication to
racial justice and criminal justice reform, the King family said it made them feel like they had
more work to do. So when they happened upon a group of black-clad demonstrators chanting,
“It’s a revolution,” they wanted to help.
Though they admitted they preferred the tenor of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s march, Brittany King
said, they supported the protesters doing “what they feel is necessary” to push for systemic change
and racial equality.
“We can do more,” Kristen said. “We have to do more to make sure things change.”
“We will,” her mother said, nodding.
As the group began to march down the ramp onto the highway, the women waved before
continuing on their way.
By Marissa Lang
6:52 p.m.
Bored after blocking bridge, women find a way to entertain
themselves
Bored and restless waiting for the storm to pass, a few women within the group of protesters that
blocked the Key Bridge came up with an idea.
A police cruiser appeared to be watching them from across the street in Washington Circle.
Three women took off their shoes, then leaped out into the road, dancing in the rain. They
pirouetted toward the parked officer, then stopped in front of his car.
All at once, they lifted their shirts, exposing their breasts. Behind them, protesters cheered. The
reaction of the officer inside the vehicle could not be seen.
By Jessica Contrera
6:40 p.m.
‘Y’all are on the side of history’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washin… Page 9 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 10 of 49
As dark clouds gathered overhead, a group of about 250 marched past the Trump International
Hotel, chanting at police gathered there, “You are gonna lose your job.”
Later the marchers reached the Mall, where they were joined by about 100 more protesters.
Lightning flickered across the sky to the east over the Washington Monument, when Ty Hobson-
Powell took the megaphone.
“They will tell you that what we are doing now is un-American, the right-wing pundits. But the
Boston Tea Party was the same thing: standing for what’s right. I look out at the crowd and see
people, old and young, and y’all are on the side of history,” said the 25-year-old organizer with
Concerned Citizens of D.C., who works for the University of the District of Columbia.
“I want you to know history will remember you all as patriots.”
As rain began to fall, reporters and marchers stood beneath a large metal wind chime art
installation related to the history of slavery.
“This is not where you want to be,” said a protest medic, noting the lightning.
As the group continued north from the Mall, a young White woman with a black T-shirt over her
face knelt to spray-paint on a highway overpass. A group of 20 bike police officers nearby didn’t
notice.
“We have nothing to lose but our chains,” she wrote hurriedly, the blood-red paint dripping down
toward the ground.
By Michael Miller
6:31 p.m.
Outside the White House, activists in orange jumpsuits
push for prison reform
They marched in orange jumpsuits with cuffs on their wrists and bags over their heads,
representing a group of incarcerated men who they say have endured prolonged solitary
confinement in prison.
And as they marched through Black Lives Matter Plaza, they sang.
“Mama, Mama, can’t you see what this prison’s done to me?”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 10 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 11 of 49
The activists, led by the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) in D.C. and
including a daughter whose father was in prison, settled outside the White House. They stood in
silent protest for a moment as one held a sign that said, “End Prison Slavery.”
They had come to call for the release of 16 men who they said have been in solitary confinement
since they were accused of participating in a prison uprising at James T. Vaughn Correctional
Center in Smyrna, Del., in which one correctional officer was killed. One man was convicted of
murder while others faced lesser charges or were acquitted.
As the 16 people in orange jumpsuits lined up in front of the White House, Qiana Johnson, the
executive director of Life After Release, an organization in Prince George’s County, Md., spoke
through a megaphone.
“I am a formerly incarcerated Black woman in America,” she said, speaking passionately about
what she called injustices from prosecutors and judges that lead to mass incarceration. “Just
because it isn’t you doesn’t mean it can’t be you,” Johnson said. “Until we get that mind-set
together we will always be in a mental cage.”
Johnson, who is also a court organizer with BLM DC, spoke about the disparity she sees between
how the criminal justice system treats young Black people compared with young White people.
She used Kyle Rittenhouse, the White 17-year-old charged with fatally shooting two
demonstrators in Wisconsin, as an example.
“If it was my son,” she said, the police “would have put five bullets in his back. Trust that.”
Fariha Huriya, a 31-year-old IWOC activist, said the prisoners would not have believed three
years ago that anyone would be calling for justice for them outside the White House.
“Having been one of their closest comrades all these years,” she said, “Watching what solitary
confinement has done to them, you lose your sense of trust in humanity. They feel almost
hopeless inside. … It makes me almost in tears today seeing people stand up for them.”
By Meagan Flynn and Katie Mettler
6:23 p.m.
Activists deepen their commitment to each other in day of
protest
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 11 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 12 of 49
Wearing matching red, green and black Black Lives Matter flags as capes, John Meche and Mi-
Chael York were among a crowd of stragglers still at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial as the
sun went down Friday, reading quotes on the wall while drummers and dancers sang and swayed
near the King statue. The day unified their different paths to racial justice activism — and their
connection as a couple.
Meche, 42, is an Afro-Latino sociology professor in New York City and a longtime activist. York,
who is 32 and Black, works in IT in Louisiana. Coming together in D.C. was part of deepening
their relationship as men of color, and for Meche to show York more of that part of his life, and
for them to face where the nation is together.
“Last night Mi-Chael was saying how emotional this is. We’re doing what our parents did, fighting
for the same things,” Meche said.
York, whose justice work in the past has been focused more on advocating for people in the
workplace, has been energized in part by his bond with the more activist Meche.
“My parents went through this, and you think, ‘Okay, mom and dad took care of this,’ and now
we’re doing the same thing,” York said.
Meche said since 1963 he thinks things have regressed for men of color “in our opportunities, in
the country’s values” and around equity. That said, the men felt encouraged by Friday’s rally and
march. They felt it showed unity among activists — including attendees of different races and
ethnicities and ideologies.
Both said they come from families that are politically wide-ranging.
“Being an advocate for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor — who’s going to tell that story, to our
nieces and nephews —” York said.
“And our children,” Meche added, as they smiled.
By Michelle Boorstein
6:10 p.m.
Police arrive to guard St. John’s Church
As the sky grew overcast over Black Lives Matter Plaza, some protesters turned their attention
away from the makeshift DJ station and to a group of about a dozen officers guarding St. John’s
Church, where President Trump had staged a photo op two months earlier.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 12 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 13 of 49
Tensions ticked up after a male protester jumped over the concrete barrier, prompting two dozen
more officers to arrive on the scene.
“Whose streets? Our streets!” protesters yelled, raising their fists in the air.
Frustration followed the arrival of the storm. Just before 6 p.m., a White man jumped over the
fence surrounding St John’s, prompting other protesters to crowd toward the barrier.
“Don’t you dare touch him!” one yelled at the officers as they jogged around the perimeter of the
church, asking protesters to stay back.
By Rebecca Tan
6:01 p.m.
On the Key Bridge with protesters and police
Dozens of protesters marched down the middle of the Francis Scott Key Bridge just after 5 p.m.
Friday as a protester turned the group’s attention to the thick brigade of D.C. police officers on
bicycles following close behind.
“Say hello to our boys in blue,” she shouted.
The crowd jeered, raised one finger and thrust their hands at the police. They settled onto the hot
pavement, some lighting cigarettes, others drinking from water bottles. The smell of sage mingled
with the smell of spray paint as demonstrators painted “ACAB” on the concrete retaining wall and
“Black Lives Matter” in the middle of the road.
Overhead, dark gray storm clouds gathered.
“For those of you who aren’t from here, let me tell you why this is a big deal that we’re sitting on
this bridge,” an organizer said. “This is one of the busiest bridges in D.C. We’ve now backed up
traffic for at least 20-something … miles.”
By Marissa Lang
6:01 p.m.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 13 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 14 of 49
Group calls for shutdown of D.C.
Carrying a banner with the words “Total abolition for total liberation,” a group of about 75 people
walked down Constitution Avenue toward Ninth Street on Friday evening. They hoped to block
the street at the Ninth Avenue tunnel to “choke the city,” one protester said.
It was one of several efforts across the city that sought to block off major entrances to D.C. to
show those who converged at the nation’s capital earlier in the day that “radical organizing isn’t
tourism,” said one protester who declined to be named but was part of Freedom Fighters DC.
Most of the protesters wore black clothes, and many wore goggles and helmets. One person
carried a bat, and another man wore what appeared to be a bulletproof vest.
The protesters in the group chanted an anti-police slogan as they walked by four officers on the
south end of the Ellipse. “You can’t stop the revolution!” they shouted.
By Samantha Schmidt
5:58 p.m.
Black mothers who lost sons decry police violence
Black mothers who have lost sons to police brutality hoped to call attention to their grief during
Friday’s “Get Your Knees Off Our Neck” march.
A group of women, which included more than 50 mothers from Texas, was invited to the event by
the National Action Network about a month ago, according to one of the mothers, Conchita
Campfield, 64.
Campfield arrived on the National Mall at 6:15 a.m. She patiently waited for volunteer medical
students from Howard University to take her temperature. She was then offered gloves, hand
sanitizer, masks, and neon green wristbands from volunteers through the National Action
Network.
Campfield’s son was Gregory Campfield Jr. She said he was killed at age 40 by police officers in
Prince George’s County on Aug. 9, 2018. She remembers him as a loving father; he coached his
son’s football team.
“We just need to put the guns down,” Campfield, who is from the D.C. area, said. “We’re killing
each other and we got the gangs in blue that are killing us as well.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 14 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 15 of 49
Monica Watson, 53, and Carol Harrison Lafayette, 54 were also among the first to be let into the
event around 6:40 am.
Watson, who is Black, said she lost her son in 2014 to police brutality in Winston Salem, N.C. “I
want to speak out because it’s a little small town, and my son’s case got swept under the rug,” she
said.
She took money she budgeted for rent to drive from Durham, N.C., to the march.
This is her first time in the District and she is most interested in hearing from the other mothers.
“We got a pain that don’t nobody feel but us,” Watson said.
The recent police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha moved her to attend. “When I saw that I fell
to my knees just like I did when George Floyd got killed,” she said through tears.
She hopes being out today brings her a little peace. She had the opportunity to meet a long time
friend of George Floyd, Travis Cains, who offered words of comfort.
She said her son, Montez Hambric, 26, was killed by police in Winston Salem on May 25, 2014.
Another mother, Dee Crane, flew in from Arlington, Tex. She said her son Tavis Crane was
murdered by police in 2017 in Arlington after a traffic stop when he was 23.
Crane, who is 56 and Black, is fed up with the little progress the country has made.
“They give us little pieces of crumb and expect us to go back to our corners and be happy,” she
said. “I’m sick of crumbs. I don’t want a slice of the pie, I want the whole pie. I need the whole pie.
We need the whole pie. Our ancestors made the pie.”
Campfield attended Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech. She pointed to the
clearly visible water of the Reflecting Pool around 11 a.m.. Back then, she said, the water wasn’t
visible because people were standing in it. She remembers meeting people who walked to the
District from North Carolina. She saw people set up tents.
“I was a youngster,” she said. “I still remember it like it was yesterday.”
She said the country has “come a long way, especially to have the first Black president, but we still
have a long way to go.”
She left around 1:19 p.m. during Al Sharpton’s speech citing the crowds. By the time she left, more
than 20 people had moved to stand in the Reflecting Pool.
By Lola Fadulu
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 15 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 16 of 49
5:06 p.m.
Same spot, but a different scene at Black Lives Matter Plaza
Around 4 p.m., several hundred demonstrators gathered to listen to speakers at Black Lives
Matter Plaza.
The crowd, most wearing masks, was a model of peaceful protest. The scene was very different
from some of those that unfolded a few hundred feet to the south in May, during protests over the
police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
It was there, at the metal fence blocking the northern perimeter of Lafayette Square, that police
aggressively forced out demonstrators ahead of President Trump’s photo op at St. John’s
Episcopal Church. It was there, on multiple nights, that demonstrators tried to push down the
barriers, faced by rows of U.S. Park Police in riot gear, and where pepper spray and smoke from
fireworks choked the air.
But Friday, the fence at Lafayette Square — still covered with hundreds of signs and placards —
was quiet. The intersection of 16th and H streets was no longer a battleground. Some stopped to
stare through the chain links at the park’s empty expanse before moving north to join the crowd.
By Peter Jamison
4:53 p.m.
After a day of marching, a long trip back to New York
As the crowds started marching toward the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, scores of people
split off and walked down Constitution Avenue, tired and hot and, in some cases, making their
way to Union Station to catch a bus home.
“This is more people than we really anticipated,” said Russell Cheek, a political consultant who
works for the New York City Council, as he walked down Constitution Avenue hoping to buy a
bottle of water.
Cheek said he helped coordinate buses filled with protesters making the trip from New York.
More than 30 buses, filled at less than half capacity for social distancing, drove down to D.C.
before dawn, he said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 16 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 17 of 49
Some protesters waited on the streets of the Bronx as early as 2 a.m. to catch a bus to
Washington.
“A lot of people are tired because it took a lot just to get here,” he said.
And many of them still had a long journey home, that same afternoon.
“The buses are pulling out at 4 p.m., with or without you,” he said.
By Samantha Schmidt
4:50 p.m.
Protesters begin rally for police abolition at Washington
Circle
At 4:15 p.m., a few hundred protesters gathered at Washington Circle, preparing for a march of
their own. A significantly younger crowd had formed, many dressed in black. Some carried body
armor, eye protection and respirator masks. An organizer said the gathering included groups
from Miami, Detroit, New York, Portland, Ore., Philadelphia and Chicago.
They split up the crowd into smaller groups, advising, “We’re all going to the same place.”
Organizers said they were going to block a bridge and “shut down the whole city.”
“It’s a beautiful day to take over Chocolate City,” an organizer yelled as a few hundred people
prepared to march toward Georgetown.
A few D.C. police cruisers began blocking off the roads ahead of them, while others lined up
beside the circle. No officers on foot were in the group.
“We are going to the wealthiest, most gentrified Caucasian parts of the city,” the organizer said,
promising to disturb people’s Friday.
Speakers with the Palm Collective and They/Them Collective, groups that have called for the
abolition of the D.C. police department, gave instructions as clusters of protesters began to put on
black bandannas and goggles while reciting the National Lawyers Guild hotline number in case of
arrests.
Sharpies were passed around so the number could be written on sweaty arms and legs. One
speaker advised that if any members of the news media took photos of them, protesters could use
an umbrella to block them.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 17 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 18 of 49
“Do you want a revolution?” a man called.
“Woop! Woop!” the crowd chanted back.
“What do we say?” an activist said.
“I didn’t see s---,” the crowd responded.
“That’s right!” a man called appreciatively.
By Marissa Lang and Jessica Contrera
4:31 p.m.
Mincing no words, Maryland teacher calls for more de-
escalation
Maryland public school teacher Sharlisa Leeks has little patience for those who turn to weapons to
settle disputes.
“As a Black schoolteacher working in the 'hood, I’ve de-escalated so many fights. If I can de-
escalate a fight, and keep two kids from killing each other, why can’t y’all do that? I’m not
equipped with a weapon,” she said. “No one gets hurt, and I’m able to keep my students from
being suspended. So what’s your excuse?”
Watch the full video above.
By Jon Gerberg
4:29 p.m.
Some marchers find a brief respite in the shadow of the
MLK Jr. Memorial
Thousands of protesters who danced and marched from the Lincoln Memorial down 23rd Street
seemed to breathe a sigh of relief once they came to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
Their movements slowed and they wandered through the site, many snapping selfies and tearing
open melted granola bars. Hundreds sat dangling their feet over the Tidal Basin. Others picnicked
across shaded grass.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 18 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 19 of 49
Mariah Alo, 27, and O’Shea Johnson, 26, relaxed under a tree, water bottles empty and masks still
on.
After months of strict quarantine, it was Alo’s first protest of the summer. She spoke of the
“ambiance” of the event, saying she felt moved to be around so many people who shared her
values.
“But,” she said, “it is very, very hot.”
She and her friend sat atop their handmade signs, trying to find energy to keep marching.
“We’re recharging,” she said. “It is needed.”
By Emily Davies
4:27 p.m.
‘Every Case Matters’ protest at Justice Department draws
hundreds
Gathered outside the U.S. Department of Justice, a crowd of about 200 people circled a pickup
truck and listened as the relatives of victims of police violence spoke into a microphone.
The protesters, led by the groups Every Case Matters and Mass Action Against Police Brutality,
demanded that the Justice Department reopen all cases of police brutality and prosecute the
officers responsible.
Ishtyme Robinson, whose daughter died in 2010, also criticized “the amplification of victims” and
of certain names and families “at the expense of millions of Africans slaughtered on this soil.”
“We don’t get anything personally by fighting individually,” she said. “My individual gain is your
personal loss because the group is not protected.”
“Every case matters!” the crowd shouted, even as a protester spray painted the name of Jacob
Blake onto the street. “Every case matters!”
Tawanda Jones, 42, who lost her brother, Tyrone West, said the Rev. Al Sharpton‘s speech Friday
was “just for the cameras.”
“Those cameras go off,” Jones said. “The pain never goes off. The pain never stops.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 19 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 20 of 49
Andrew Ocasio, 26, of New York City, asked the crowd: “How many people here know the story of
my mother, Sandy Guardiola? None,” he said. He told the story of his Puerto Rican mother, who
he said was shot and killed by a law enforcement officer during a wellness check in her home.
“There are thousands of stories that we never even heard of. The media wants to keep their eyes
closed. They only want to highlight the ones they want to highlight,” Ocasio said. “I stand here for
the thousands of Sandys we never even heard of.”
By Samantha Schmidt
4:00 p.m.
Among the marchers, a federal agent demonstrates
Among the marchers was a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security who has
been in law enforcement for decades.
On Friday morning, he pulled on a black T-shirt with the names of people who have died at the
hands of police printed on the back: Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile. Then on a piece
of masking tape, he wrote in bold letters “JACOB BLAKE,” the name of the man shot seven times
by police this week, and added it to the list.
“He needed to be recognized, just like the others,” said the agent, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because of his job.
The agent, who is Puerto Rican and Native American, said he and his wife, who is Black, marched
Friday because they believe in all social justice movements — the Women’s March, the March for
Our Lives and the protests that broke out in the summer after George Floyd and Breonna Taylor
were killed by police.
“There’s a need for change,” he said. “There’s a cry.”
He understands that cry in his personal and professional life, he said. He grew up in New York
and watched his friends die or go to prison. He has experienced racism at football games, and he
and wife said they have been racially profiled while driving.
The agent said he and others in his family went into law enforcement to try to make change from
the inside. But his attempts to change the racism baked into the law enforcement community has
been met with opposition and retaliation, he said.
“I got into it to make a change, and I became part of their problem,” he said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 20 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 21 of 49
The biggest problem, he said, is White people choosing to stand idly by.
“The only way to kill a snake is to cut its head off. When that snake has reared and given birth to
thousands underneath him, it just becomes that more deep rooted,” he said. “The poison lives
on.”
By Katie Mettler
3:54 p.m.
Republican convention was hard to stomach, protesters say
For Suzanne Rideout, 61, and Terri Bell, 58, the decision to drive to Washington from Pittsburgh
was obvious.
“We couldn’t not be here,” Bell said. “Given what this all means and this administration. I mean,
this is urgent.”
Bell watched snippets of the Republican National Convention this past week while preparing for
the march, but Rideout said she could not bring herself to stay tuned-in for long.
“It was nauseating,” she said, moving her gray Afro out of her face.
“It was — it was obscene,” her cousin chimed in. “As a Black woman, there hasn’t been one day
that I haven’t felt the effects of racism, but hearing Trump speak and not acknowledge a single
Black and Brown body that has died ... it was obscene.”
Afriquah Imani, 70, said she also found it hard to watch the GOP convention. “It was too much,”
she said while resting in the shade along Constitution Avenue. “Too much, too much, too much.”
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Imani said she has spent decades as an activist. But as a Black
Muslim woman, the past four years have been particularly hard to bear, she said. The shooting of
Jacob Blake “just down the street” left her feeling numb, she added.
By Rebecca Tan
3:46 p.m.
D.C. police chief says demonstrations were ‘very peaceful’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 21 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 22 of 49
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham described the demonstrations as “very peaceful” and said the
“mood is very positive.”
The chief, interviewed at 3 p.m., said officers were monitoring a group of antifascists gathered at
Washington Circle.
“We’re hoping they will be peaceful as well,” Newsham said.
Meanwhile, officials at D.C. Fire and EMS said they had been dealing with mainly heat-related
issues.
As of 4 p.m., the department had treated 106 patients from the rally. Of those, eight were taken to
hospitals, while more than 50 were treated at a medical tent.
Vito Maggiolo, a fire department spokesman, said most of the calls were for people suffering from
heat-related ailments. The calls, he said, “are rising by the minute. It’s nonstop dispatches for
various calls.”
By Peter Hermann
3:41 p.m.
March splinters, with some heading to Justice Department
As crowds marched toward the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, hundreds peeled off and walked
down Constitution Avenue toward the Justice Department, chanting “No justice, no peace,
prosecute the police.”
Led by a group called Mass Action Against Police Brutality, they marched behind a banner with
the words “REOPEN THE CASES.” Music blasted from a pickup truck. Four people sat on the
back of the truck, holding signs that said “Jail Killer Cops.”
“Sharpton wanted people to wait until August for people to do something,” Sirad Zahra said into a
megaphone at the front of the march. “Here we are, and now they want to walk down memory
lane.”
She criticized Sharpton’s list of demands, saying it lacked consequences for law enforcement. “So
we decided to take a direct route on our march,” she said. “We are not going to walk down
memory lane. We are walking to the Department of Justice. Let’s go, y’all.”
The group is demanding that the Justice Department reopen all cases of police brutality.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 22 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 23 of 49
“How can you have a bill in the name of George Floyd that doesn’t require the reopening of cases,
that doesn’t require that cops that are guilty of killing someone actually serve time in jail?” Zahra
said. “It’s time for justice. We can’t wait.”
By Samantha Schmidt
3:26 p.m.
Deaths that never made the media matter too, a mother
says
As the Rev. Al Sharpton spoke, Ishtyme Robinson walked away from the crowds of people
gathered around him. She instead marched toward the U.S. Department of Justice, where she
planned to meet other mothers of victims of police brutality.
Robinson’s daughter, Ahjah Dixon, was 23 when she died in a jail cell in Corsicana, Tex., in 2010.
About five years later, Robinson formed Every Case Matters with others families of victims of
police violence.
On Friday, they planned to deliver a petition with more than 92,000 signatures demanding that
the Justice Department reopen all cases of police brutality, and link them all as one collective
case, “as one assault.”
“Al Sharpton is not speaking for the masses,” Robinson said. “Al Sharpton is speaking for his core
group of mothers, his picks. ... But for the rest of us whose stories have never made it into the
media, we’re just thrown under the bus.”
By amplifying certain cases and families, she said, Sharpton is co-opting the efforts to seek justice,
and sending a “salient message to the rest of the community that our daughters don’t matter.”
“He needs to stop trying to speak for us, because he doesn’t,” Robinson said.
By Samantha Schmidt
3:19 p.m.
Black women of Bethesda with a history and a future
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 23 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 24 of 49
Lucy Perez remembered the 1963 March for Freedom and Jobs, which her male relatives were
allowed to attend (but not her). Her uncle, she said, operated on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
after he was stabbed in New York. The families stayed in touch, and Lucy went into the church
with her family for King’s funeral.
“I’m sick that I’m still doing this,” said Perez, who protests and volunteers for racism-related
issues five days a week. “But I am so proud of the way my daughter thinks. She didn’t drink the
Kool Aid.”
“What’s the Kool Aid?” asked Nikki Perez.
“Racism,” said her mother.
“That it’s our fault,” said the daughter. “Black people aren’t the problem. It’s white supremacy.
Like women’s suffrage wasn’t women’s problem. The idea that White people own everything. Too
often the suggestion is that if we don’t act a certain way — it’s, just submit and you won’t be
killed.”
Looking around at the masked thousands sitting and standing quietly in the thick, humid air,
listening to speeches, Lucy Perez had a word to describe the crowd: “committed.”
She remembered when she graduated high school in Brooklyn decades ago and asked her
counselor to provide the mandatory signature for her to take the college entrance exam. The
counselor refused and instead directed her to menial work.
Nikki said her experience is different from her mother’s, but she feels societal changes toward
Black people are “performative."
“We may be allowed in the room, but we don’t get a seat at the table,” she said.
The mix of police killings and the virus and the election, they said, have created “the perfect
storm."
“People are exasperated,” they said.
However, the plus is that the quarantine has left many people with more time to organize, Nikki
said.
“We can’t allow this opportunity to be wasted,” she said.
By Michelle Boorstein
3:06 p.m.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 24 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 25 of 49
From Zanzibar and Kentucky, protesters bond at rally
The lawn in front of the Lincoln Memorial offered many people respite from the crowds circling
the Reflecting Pool, and that’s where Mahl Ot Sansosa knelt in the grass to write on the Pan-
African flag she had brought.
“Nous Sommes Tout Pour Moi,” she wrote in marker. It was French for, “We are everything to
me,” she said.
Originally from Brazil, with a mother from Zanzibar, she said, she brought the flag to represent
French Africans and other groups also facing discrimination and abuse.
“We’re all under a global oppression,” she said.
Feet away, Quenshell Wakefield sat in a plastic chair with her husband, Allen, sitting at her feet.
Five months pregnant, Quenshell and Allen had driven from Louisville, where they had been
protesting the killing of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police for 93 days.
Every day, Allen Wakefield said, he had been out marching for Taylor. Four days ago, a photo of
him sitting in the middle of traffic during a protest with his 3-year-old son, Ayden, had gone viral.
Three days ago, he said, police were shooting rubber bullets at him.
“We are tired,” Quenshell said. “Tired of being mistreated.”
To them, the march represented a safe place. A place people all across the U.S. who have been
marching on the streets, facing down police, could be united and feel secure.
“Back home if we did anything like this, police will be there to shut it down, rubber bullets …
broken bones,” Allen said. “The more people, the less of a threat, [police] are. What can you do to
a group this large? We are peaceful protesters.”
Around them, kids wearing Black Lives Matter apparel chased each other in play, as the mother of
Breonna Taylor choked up during a speech to the crowd.
“I want to be part of the voice to be heard,” Quenshell said.
By Justin George
3:02 p.m.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 25 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 26 of 49
Black military vets put lives on the line overseas. At home,
how safe are they?
Cindy Laws’s father fought in Vietnam, she joined the Army and her son joined the Air Force.
And yet, after her family’s three generations of service, both overseas and at home, Black military
vets like them are still fighting for justice in their own country, Laws said.
She said she came to march thinking of the Black men in her family, namely her 24-year-old son.
“It scares me to death to think my son, who is on active duty in the Air Force fighting for this
country, could be pulled over and shot and killed because of the color of his skin,” said Laws, a 49-
year-old Black Army veteran, now a government contractor. “He can go off and risk his life, put
his life on the line, for a country that doesn’t care about his.”
Her friend, Shelton Cunningham, 54, said he served in the Army overseas in Afghanistan and
Iraq. But it has been “sickening,” he said, that even in a nation at peace, violence by police and
among civilians can at times feel worse than the violence he experienced in the military.
“It’s a shame to go to war and come home to this, and it’s the same thing,” Shelton said, before
packing up and proceeding to the march. “There’s more gun violence here than over there.”
Shelton and Laws were among about 12 military veterans who knew each other from the service
and decided to meet in Washington.
Corthie Woods, 42, said she arrived in Washington from Florida two weeks ago so she could
complete the city’s required quarantine for visitors from states with high rates of the coronavirus.
“I wanted to witness history,” she said.
By Meagan Flynn
3:02 p.m.
Collecting history as it happens
She approached the group of women seated on the 17th Street levee quietly.
“Hi,” she started. “I’m collecting people’s experiences, if any of you want to share.”
She held out a canvas covered in black marker. People’s signatures, neat script and jagged scrawls
spread across the piece.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 26 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 27 of 49
Ciara Turner, 30, is a student of history, she said, and ever since George Floyd was killed in late
May, she has been documenting this moment in time — the protests, and those who have poured
into the streets to be heard.
On this day, the 57th anniversary of the seminal 1963 March on Washington, she said, she has
been asking people to reflect on how far the nation has come — and how much further it has to go
to achieve true equality.
“So much of our history as Black people has been erased,” she said. “This is my small way of
protecting that history, preserving it for my children so I can tell them what happened in this
moment in time.”
A larger canvas hangs in her Northern Virginia home, covered in messages of urgency, anger and
pain.
On Friday, people wrote things like: “i’m marching because I can, and therefore I must!”
They immortalized the names of victims of police violence, including George Floyd and Jacob
Blake.
When she’s done collecting — whenever this moment reaches its conclusion, she said — she wants
to donate the canvas to the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture to
preserve it, long after her protesting days end.
By Marissa Lang
2:57 p.m.
With raw emotion, relatives of those injured and slain
speak out
As the speeches entered their third hour, the political addresses of the morning gave way to
something far more raw: a parade of one Black man and woman after another, each of them the
relative of a person murdered or injured in recent years, whose case caught the public attention.
Eric Garner Jr. led the crowd in one of its familiar chants: “I can’t breathe.”
“It’s been six years since my father’s words became our words,” he said.
Ahmaud Arbery’s parents shared their grief. “I’m used to my boy calling me, saying he loves me.
Sometimes I’m like, ‘He forgot to call me,’ ” Marcus Arbery said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 27 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 28 of 49
Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, encouraged hope amid the mourning: “I do believe if we
continue to stand and fight together, we will get change.”
Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, echoed her: “Even though we’re going through a crisis,
even though it looks dark, I want to tell you to be encouraged. … Don’t stop saying ‘Black lives
matter.’ Don’t stop peaceful protesting,” she said. “Stand up. We was built for this.”
One after another, as each speaker came to the podium, the crowd chanted the name of their child
or brother or sister or parent. There were so many families of the victims, organizers said there
wasn’t time for all to speak.
By Julie Zauzmer
2:45 p.m.
The march and police violence, through the eyes of children
While parents of Black men and women killed by police took the stage, parents of Black children
shushed their kids and asked them to listen.
There were hundreds of children in the crowd, riding in strollers, marching in light-up sneakers,
carrying backpacks they wouldn’t be taking to school this year.
They couldn’t see above the heads of all the adults crowded in around the Lincoln Memorial, but
still they tried to process all that was happening around them.
“We are here so they can stop shooting us,” said Malik Leak, 11.
“White people are not happy that Black people are happy,” said Rylee Bates Trenard, 9. Her
6-year-old cousin was wearing a T-shirt with the words “My skin color is not a crime” written
across jail bars.
“It’s a lot of people here. I usually don’t like to be around a huge crowd,” said Jahzarah Royal
Nichols, 7. “I packed my favorite chocolate and I packed some Gatorade and these are my beach
chairs.”
Earlier in the week, Jahzarah’s mother had shown her the video of Jacob Blake being shot,
determined to show it to her daughter before she saw it elsewhere.
“The law is that you can’t attack an innocent Black man,” Jahzarah’s friend Malcolm, 9, said as he
scooped up a handful of Goldfish. “It doesn’t make any sense. They know that, but they are still
doing it.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 28 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 29 of 49
Behind him, two Black boys chased each other around a tree, playing freeze tag.
By Jessica Contrera
2:45 p.m.
A fountain of water offers a break from the heat
As George Floyd’s brother delivered an emotional speech, a firetruck parked next to the Lincoln
Memorial sprayed a powerful fountain of water to help people cool down. Kids and adults alike
stepped into the spray, squealing and dancing with glee. They emerged drenched and smiling. It
was a joyful scene, offering respite from the heat and intensity of Friday’s event.
By Emily Davies
2:23 p.m.
Bridgett Floyd challenges marchers to take action
When Bridgett Floyd took the podium Friday to speak about her brother, George, the thousands
around the reflecting pool erupted in chants of “George Floyd!”
After a brief emotional address by her other brother, she issued a challenge.
“I want you to ask yourself: What will be your legacy?” she asked the sea of people in masks. “Will
future generations remember you for your inaction, complacency, or for your empathy,
leadership, for weeding out injustices?”
By Michelle Boorstein
2:18 p.m.
A Minnesota voice: ‘50, 60 years later, and we’re still here.’
Loretta Haynes, 63, still remembers the first time racism found her. She had traveled with her
family from Minnesota to the South for vacation. They had stopped at a gas station to use the
restroom, then suddenly her stepfather and uncle were rushing her back into the car and speeding
away.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 29 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 30 of 49
“They’re following us,” she remembers them saying, and she remembers feeling that nothing felt
right.
Now, decades later, she knows that what she felt was fear. She was 8.
Haynes was a girl during the first March on Washington, she lived through the assassination of
the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and she witnessed the uprising this summer over police violence
and racism that “busted open” America, she said.
The reckoning began in her family’s backyard in Minnesota after George Floyd, a Black man, was
killed when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck. This week, she traveled from St. Paul,
Minn., to Washington with three generations of women in her family: her nieces Martina
Edwards-Golden, 52, and Teneshia Collins, 41, and Collins’s 10-year-old daughter, Alaysia
Ransom.
They all wore shirts that said “ITS OKAY TO BE BLACK!!” on the front and “MN BLACK” on the
back. They marched back home in Floyd’s name, and they helped clean up the Twin Cities after
weeks of protests. They decided to come to Washington this week — their first time ever traveling
to the nation’s capital for a protest — because “This is history. For us, for her,” Haynes said of
Alaysia.
For Edwards-Golden, the march was personal. She worked in nutrition services with Philando
Castile, the Black man who was shot and killed by Minneapolis police. Her nephew, Marcus
Golden, was shot and killed by St. Paul police Jan. 14, 2015.
Collins, who works at the University of Minnesota, said that for her, it’s hard to reconcile that
people in Washington today are fighting for the same things that brought marchers to the capital
decades ago.
“This is crazy,” she said. “Fifty years, 60 years later, and we’re still here.”
By Katie Mettler
2:16 p.m.
Crowd overflows as protesters surge to the Mall
They descended on the Mall from all directions, carrying messages on signs and on their already
sweat-soaked T-shirts: “Unbreakable,” said one. “B — don’t kill my tribe,” said another. “Good
trouble,” read a tank top commemorating John Lewis. One woman wore a dress that simply said:
“Nah.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 30 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 31 of 49
By noon, the crowds stretched far beyond the area that required a temperature check to enter.
Thousands lounged in the grass around the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, listening to speeches
and slipping down their masks to sip water.
They cheered as speakers talked of Sen. Kamala D. Harris, of America’s teachers, of the
responsibility to vote.
Sharilyn Wagner, 71, rested on a bench, fanning herself with a sign that said, “I don’t understand
how you don’t understand.”
“The lines were so long and my back was hurting, so I couldn’t get my wrist band,” she said.
She had taken vacation from her job as a bus driver, flown from Austin to Baltimore, then taken a
$70 taxi ride to get here at 8 a.m.
“There were ones that have gone on and paved the way for us, Martin Luther King Jr. And John
Lewis, but my generation hasn’t come that far,” she said. “But I believe in this younger generation,
oh yes I do. I just know that the young people are going to take us where we need to be” — she
pointed to a reporter’s phone — “with all that high tech and stuff.”
She watched the crowds passing by her, noticing just how many of the young Black women were
wearing braids. In 1978, she said, she was told she couldn’t wear her long braids while she worked
as a bus driver. She had to remove them as she fought the rule through her union. She won.
Today, gray ringlet curls framed her Chanel mask as she listened to Martin Luther King III speak
of the “American nightmare.” Wagner had been in middle school — a segregated middle school —
57 years ago when his father stood in the same spot.
When she came home that day, she saw the speech on a small black-and-white TV. Her parents,
who had grown up picking cotton, told her that man was “making good sense.”
Now she would have the chance to tell her children, grandchildren and great-grandchild about
this day.
By Jessica Contrera
2:15 p.m.
Jacob Blake’s father speaks as Kenosha death sharpens
urgency of the March
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 31 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 32 of 49
The shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., the most recent police shooting to shake the
nation, sharpened the urgency of the march, and as the speeches at the Lincoln Memorial neared
an end, Blake’s family took the podium.
“There are two systems of justice in the United States. There’s a White system and a Black
system,” Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., said. His own father joined the march in 1963, he said.
“We’re tired. I’m tired of looking at cameras and seeing these young Black and Brown people
suffering. We’re going to hold court today. We’re going to hold court on systemic racism,” he said,
then led the crowd in proclaiming the country “guilty, guilty, guilty.”
Letetra Widman, Blake’s sister, spoke to the Black community.
“Black America, I hold you accountable. You must stand. You must fight, but not with violence
and chaos,” she said. “Black women, you are your brothers’ keeper …. Black children, read! Learn!
Grow and live and question everything. Black men, stand up. Stand up, Black men! Educate
yourself and protect the Black family unit.”
By Julie Zauzmer
1:52 p.m.
Sharpton breaks down the reasons for organizing a march
in Washington
The Rev. Al Sharpton promised this march on the day of George Floyd’s funeral. He hadn’t made
any plans yet, or done any of the logistical legwork it would eventually take to pull off a civil rights
march in the midst of a pandemic. But he knew he would do it: another march on Washington, in
the tumultuous summer of 2020.
As Sharpton took the podium, one woman yelled “I love you, Al” and people began breaking
through fence barriers and piling into the VIP area beneath the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The area, which had been kept socially distanced since 7 a.m., became instantly crowded with
protesters who held up their phones to record Sharpton’s speech.
Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial looking out at that idea come to fruition, Sharpton
offered a history lesson, and an exhortation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 32 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 33 of 49
In 1863, he said, the man honored behind him in monumental marble signed the Emancipation
Proclamation. “He promised us full citizenship if we fought to save the union. He promised us 40
acres and a mule. We never got full citizenship. We never got the reparations. We come to Lincoln
[Memorial] to say we are tired of broken promises,” Sharpton said.
A century later, in 1963, the marchers on Washington brought their lunches in brown bags
because restaurants wouldn’t serve them. Sharpton celebrated the progress that means today’s
marchers could stay in any hotel in the city.
But as he introduced relatives of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd to speak of today’s Black grief,
Sharpton spoke of the long way that still remains.
“America, we need to have a conversation about your racism, your bigotry. We need to have the
conversation about how you would put your knee on our necks while we cry for oxygen,” Sharpton
said. “We’ve gone from Bull Connor to Bull Trump. We’ve gone from a mean-spirited sheriff to a
mean-spirited president.”
Like almost every speaker, Sharpton focused above all on the importance of voting in November.
“We don’t care how long the line is. We don’t care what you do. We’re going to vote: not for one
candidate or another, but we’re going to vote for a nation that will stop the George Floyds, that
will stop the Breonna Taylors,” he said. “For too long, you acted like we didn’t matter. They say,
‘well, everybody matters.’ But everybody hasn’t mattered the same in America. The reason we
had, and we still have to say ‘Black Lives Matter’ is because we get less health care like we don’t
matter. We go to jail longer for the same crimes like we don’t matter. … Black lives matter, and we
won’t stop until it matters to everybody.”
By Julie Zauzmer and Emily Davies
1:46 p.m.
MLK’s 12-year-old granddaughter: ‘We will fulfill my
grandfather’s dream'
Yolanda Renee King stood in a black-and-white jumpsuit, barely taller than the lectern as she
spoke from the very steps that her grandfather etched indelibly into American memory. At age 12,
she is the young inheritor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision, and of his oratorical gifts.
“We are the great dreams of our grandparents,” she boomed out from the Lincoln Memorial. “We
will fulfill my grandfather’s dream.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 33 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 34 of 49
“Less than a year before he was assassinated, my grandfather predicted this very movement. He
said that we were moving into a new phase of the struggle: the first phase was civil rights, and the
new phase is genuine equality. Genuine equality is why we are here today,” she said. “He said that
we must not forget the days of Montgomery. We must not forget the sit-in movement. … Papa
King, we won’t!”
She pledged her hope in Generation Z: “We are going to be the generation that dismantles
systemic racism, once and for all.”
Calling himself a “proud dad,” Martin Luther King III followed his young daughter by saying that
while this march marks the anniversary of King’s famous American dream, “We must never forget
the American nightmare.”
“We still struggle for justice, demilitarizing the police, dismantling mass incarceration,” said King,
who was 10 years old when his father was assassinated. He focused much of his speech on the
importance of overcoming voter suppression. “There’s a knee upon the neck of our democracy,
and our nation can only live so long without the oxygen of freedom.”
King praised the marchers as resembling the “coalition of conscience” that his father spoke of, as
they marched aware of the dangers of coronavirus: “We are socially distant but spiritually united.
We are masking our faces but not our faith in freedom.”
While King quoted from many of his father’s most famous phrases, he said that today’s activists,
working to achieve the voting rights that their predecessors fought for, should not become too
mired in the past. He urged civil rights activists to join and support today’s protest movements,
including the Women’s March, Parkland students’ March for Our Lives, and the climate
movement.
“If Dad were here today, I’m sure he would implore us not to deify him or selectively quote him
where convenient,” he said. “He would gently but intently challenge us not to dwell upon the past.
… We must become the heroes of the history we are making.”
By Julie Zauzmer
1:17 p.m.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 34 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 35 of 49
Sen. Kamala Harris: ‘We have an opportunity to make
history’
Sen. Kamala D. Harris, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, spoke to marchers in a
recorded video.
In an address focused on the historic leaders whose protests led to this time, Harris expressed
hope that Friday’s movement would bring change.
“If we work together to challenge every instinct our nation has to return to the status quo … we
have an opportunity to make history, right here and right now,” she said.
While noting that the 1963 March on Washington was organized by labor leaders, the top officials
of several unions also spoke at the 2020 march.
Randi Weingarten, who leads the American Federation of Teachers, said the “shameful condition”
that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about “has not been cured; it’s been metastasized.”
Weingarten spoke of a Psalm she recites at her synagogue, and said, “Those of us who are White,
we need to be real allies and real supporters … We must call out those who cling so tightly to their
privilege that it is an oppressive tool against equality.”
By Julie Zauzmer
1:08 p.m.
Congressional Black Caucus calls for ban on police
chokeholds, no-knock warrants
Joined by other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) called
on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which bans police officers from
using chokeholds and no-knock warrants. The bill has already passed the House.
“We are here today because people died and were denied civil and economic rights,” Beatty said.
“We are here today because George Floyd had a knee on his neck. Eight minutes, 46 seconds.
Black lives matter.”
She continued: “Silence is not an option because Black people face a symbolic chokehold every
time we walk, speak up, shop, jog, drive and, yes, breathe."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 35 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 36 of 49
Beatty went on to quote Martin Luther King Jr., restating: “In America, a riot is the language of an
unheard people.”
Before concluding her speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Beatty called on the crowd
before her to “go vote, go vote, go vote, go vote. And, yes, I’m congresswoman Joyce Beatty, and I
approve this message.”
By Teddy Amenabar
1:08 p.m.
Marchers honor the memory of Rep. John Lewis and ‘good
trouble’
The memory of late civil rights icon John Lewis loomed large over Friday’s protest, his influence
palpable in almost every corner of the demonstration.
It was rare for a speech to end without an ode to the late congressman or a reference to his iconic
quote about “good trouble.”
The Rev. Keith Byrd of Zion Baptist Church got the crowd on its feet with the words: “Let’s get
into some good trouble. Let freedom ring.”
As throngs of people waited in line to get their temperatures checked, one woman streamed down
the line cheering, “Good trouble. This is good trouble.”
James Barry, 54, had last stepped foot on the Mall to pay his respects to Lewis (D-Ga.) during his
public viewing. Lewis had been his guiding light since he was a boy in Baltimore, he said.
Barry recalled a childhood spent being bused to school in a White Baltimore neighborhood. As
race riots broke out around him, he found hope in thinking about Lewis. Just like the thought of a
man determined to achieve justice gave him comfort as a child, it served as a profound source of
motivation for his participation in Friday’s march.
“He didn’t wait for the fight to come to him, he brought the fight,” said Barry, an employee with
the Treasury Department. “And that is what we are doing here today.”
He leaned over a fence, dressed in a “Good Trouble” T-shirt and a mask that read “Vote.,” and
watched the crowd move and sway before him.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 36 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 37 of 49
Barry said he felt a heightened sense of responsibility to show up at Friday’s march now that
Lewis is gone. With many of the civil rights giants no longer living, he said he wants to carry their
torch for younger generations.
“These children need somebody to blaze the trail for them, to open it up so they can get through,”
he said, pointing to a young girl listening from a shaded patch of grass.
By Emily Davies
1:04 p.m.
‘We shouldn’t still be having to do this,’ marchers say
As the public-address system blasted the voices of the speakers on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial across the Mall, Bryan Edwards, 35, stood in the grass near the monument considering
Friday’s march in terms of history — and history’s failures.
“We shouldn’t have to still be doing this,” said Edwards, who traveled with friends from New York
for the march. “When Martin Luther King appeared on these steps, that should have been the
peak moment. But the racism continues, so we have to keep coming out and keep coming out,
again and again.”
“See, I don’t care about any of that,” his friend Mahl Ot Sansosa, 37, cut in. “I don’t care about
American politics or American history," she said, saying she was attending the march because she
has a parent who was deported.
Sansosa explained that her father had been deported in 1996 but didn’t provide other details.
“The United States has tried to destroy many people and countries, including mine,” Sansosa said.
“I’m here to show that they didn’t destroy me. I can still be here.”
By Kyle Swenson
12:43 p.m.
Law enforcement is a low-key presence at Friday’s march
The law enforcement presence by midday Friday was far more limited than the tension-filled
standoffs the city has seen in the summer and attracted little attention from protesters.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 37 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 38 of 49
Where military tanks had once blocked off streets, protesters saw D.C. garbage trucks instead.
U.S. Park Police passed easily through the crowd gathered near the gates around the Lincoln
Memorial. Satellite-topped TV trucks outnumbered police cruisers on 23rd Street.
Protester Michellene Bonney, 32, wore camouflage and stood close to her boyfriend, scanning the
area and trying to “remain vigilant,” she said.
But she said she hadn’t seen many officers.
“Coming to this event, we were like, ‘What precautions do we need to take?’ ” she said. “But we are
thinking because this march is so televised, it won’t be treated in the way that other protests
were.”
By Jessica Contrera
12:31 p.m.
Minister traces police violence back 2,000 years
The Rev. Jamal Bryant started his speech with history more than 2,000 years old, comparing the
American police officer shooting Black father Jacob Blake in the back to the Romans who stabbed
Julius Caesar.
Blake’s shooting was the most “heinous crime” since Caesar’s assassination in 44 B.C., Bryant
said.
“Today, while it is that you stand, Jacob Blake finds himself paralyzed from the waist down,”
Bryant said. Then he spoke metaphorically about the Black community: “Even when you render
us paralyzed, we still know how to crawl. And on November 3, we’re going to crawl to the polling
places no matter what you do. If you take away the mailboxes, we’re still going to crawl.”
Bryant had harsh words for those who endorsed President Trump at the Republican National
Convention this week, comparing them to slaves, and for Black Americans who aren’t sure
whether to support Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), who would become the first Black vice
president if elected.
“Don’t tell me about what it is that she did in the past, and you not tell me about what she wants
to do in the future. She wants to make sure we get rid of private prisons, that there are no more
mandatory minimums, and marijuana is no longer an illegal substance,” he said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 38 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 39 of 49
A pastor, Bryant also criticized both Black and White churches that do not support social justice
movements. He castigated Black churches that are uncomfortable joining racial justice
movements that have LGBT leaders, and White churches that align with conservative politicians.
“Don’t tell me you’re pro-life, and White evangelicals are silent while Black people are dying in the
streets,” he said.
By Julie Zauzmer
12:24 p.m.
Lawmakers pledge to work toward healing, justice and
systemic changes
On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D), the first Black woman elected to
Congress from Massachusetts, said the current March on Washington came about because of the
“sacrifice and self-determination” of all Black ancestors, not only the men and women reported
“in our history books.”
“The truth of the matter is we are because of them,” Pressley said. “We will work toward healing,
justice and liberation like our lives depend on it.”
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) called for a robust package of federal legislation to address
marchers’ concerns — including criminal justice changes, police reforms and voting rights
expansion.
“Let’s get rid of the chokehold. Let’s get rid of the knee,” he shouted, saying Congress could
achieve such goals. “Let’s do away with the death penalty. Let’s do away with solitary
confinement. Let’s do away with mandatory minimums.”
By Julie Zauzmer and Teddy Amenabar
12:15 p.m.
Arab American leader says she represents 3.7 million at
march
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, told the crowd assembled in front
of the Lincoln Memorial that she will march on behalf of 3.7 million Arab Americans.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 39 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 40 of 49
“We do so because it is right and — regrettably — because it is necessary to declare that Black lives
matter,” Berry said.
Berry apologized to families who have lost their loved ones to police violence.
“Until the killing of Black men, women and children stops, until systemic racism and anti-
Blackness is addressed, the America that we all desire cannot be realized,” she said.
“Here’s the simple truth: It has been 168 days since Breonna Taylor was killed in her own home,”
she said. “The system is not broken. It is working as it was designed, and we must change it."
By Teddy Amenabar
12:14 p.m.
Demonstrate, then vote, minister tells crowd
The Rev. Franklyn Richardson, a New York minister who chairs the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National
Action Network, exhorted the crowd that no amount of protesting and demonstrating matters
unless it is paired with voting.
“This will be a mockery if we do not deliver ourselves to the polls. This will be a disgrace if we fail
to engage our resources on our own behalf,” he preached.
“If we fail to bring out our vote … all that we have fought for, all that our forefathers and mothers
have died for, is at risk of being lost,” he said. “Blood that has been shed for our freedoms is on
the line.”
Despite that dark prospect, he said, “We still believe in America’s promise.”
By Julie Zauzmer
11:55 a.m.
‘We were really close to them.’ Chicagoans come to say
friends’ names.
The group of 17 young women and teenage girls left Chicago at 3 a.m. Thursday to catch a flight to
Washington to say the names of their two friends, Antwainisha Bratcher and Tajanay Samuels, at
the Lincoln Memorial.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 40 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 41 of 49
The two 19-year-old Black women were killed in Chicago, lost to gun violence. Their friends said
in D.C. that they are still fighting for justice in those cases. A Chicago Sun-Times story said
Bratcher and Samuels were sitting in a car about 8:30 p.m. May 26 when they were shot.
For the two women’s friends in She Chicago, which advocates for female empowerment, Friday’s
march is personal.
“We were really close to them. We don’t know who did it,” said Dominicca Washington, executive
director of She Chicago. “There’s no justice. So, we are here to acknowledge the loss of Black
female lives as well.”
As one in the group spoke Bratcher’s and Samuels’s names, she broke down in tears, stepping
away as others in the group moved to comfort her.
“We were really close to them,” Washington repeated.
By Meagan Flynn
11:49 a.m.
Long waits to enter rally were no deterrent for marchers
Thousands snaked through lines on the Mall, awaiting temperature checks and wrist bands as the
“Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” March on Washington began.
In some cases, there was little social distancing as the crowds moved closer to the Lincoln
Memorial and the calls for justice boomed louder from the speakers. Most participants, however,
did wear masks.
Volunteers pointed digital thermometers at foreheads as people pushed forward. Those who
passed were given wrist bands.
“Over 98.5, you’re not getting no wrist band!” yelled one volunteer, urging those whose
temperatures were too high to cool down, drink some water and try again later.
Even though it took some as long as a half an hour to find the end of the line, those who came said
they would wait as long as it took to join the march.
The Chairs family — 12 cousins and sisters in matching red shirts — said they drove from Lansing,
Mich., to be in D.C. on Friday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 41 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 42 of 49
“It’s systemic, everything that’s happening,” said Zahna Chairs, 26. “It’s not just in police
brutality, but it’s our health as well.”
Rodney and Amanda Selman held their three sons’ hands, saying they had been waiting an hour
and a half but wanted their children to see the event. “I told them, this is history. They’ll look back
on this and tell their own kids one day,” Rodney Selman said.
By Meagan Flynn
11:45 a.m.
‘Vote like your life depends on it,’ says attendee who rode
motorcycle from California
Porsche Taylor led a group of more than 100 women who rode motorcycles across the country to
be at the march. They started Monday in California.
“We are our ancestors’ wildest dreams,” she said about her organization, Black Girls Ride, which
she described as “a movement of women passionate about motorsports."
On the long ride, Taylor said, she thought about those who had been killed by law enforcement.
Riding through Texas, she thought about Sandra Bland, she said.
“With each act of senseless violence, we feel a stirring in our collective soul,” she said. “We raise
our throttle hand in support of those in the front lines of our struggle.”
The next ride, she said, will be to the polling places. “Vote like your life depends on it,” she
concluded.
By Julie Zauzmer
11:41 a.m.
‘Injustice has no color:’ Demonstrators from across the
country feel momentum
At 10:30 a.m., about a dozen rows of chairs in front of the Lincoln Memorial stairs were filled with
early arrivals. Some had come a long way.
David Jones, 56, flew in from Houston. His brother, Alford Jones, 64, came from Michigan.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 42 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 43 of 49
Both arrived in D.C. at 9 p.m. Thursday, went to a hotel and woke up at 5:30 a.m. to get in line
and grab one of the few seats.
“We wanted to be a part of the march to support social change,” said David Jones, pulling his face
mask down to speak. “Not just in Houston or Michigan but the whole country.”
The Jones brother said they feel momentum in the air. They say the month’s events have proved
to them that change is here. Instead of being discouraged by the police shooting of Jacob Blake or
the shootings at Kenosha, Wis., protests on Tuesday, the Jones brothers say they see America
more united for racial change than ever. Proof, they said, is the number of companies that have
spoken out and professional sports teams that have decided not to play in support of the cause.
“It feels like for the first time there’s movement,” Alford Jones said. “It’s so diverse. It’s not a
Black movement. People are coming out from all over. You see it today. Injustice has no color.”
By Justin George
11:37 a.m.
‘I knew I would be here today’: Thousands demand racial
justice at March on Washington
Just past dawn Friday, more than a half-century after Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the Lincoln
Memorial’s marble steps and offered his vision for a fair and righteous America, thousands of
protesters descended on the nation’s capital at the end of a summer that has laid bare just how
distant the fulfillment of his vision remains.
Among them was Marilyn Boddy, 62, who had never attended a protest in her life. As a decades-
long federal employee, Boddy had always been reluctant to join in public demonstrations, but that
changed when she heard the Rev. Al Sharpton eulogize George Floyd, who died in May beneath
the knee of Minneapolis police officer.
“It was right there, in the emotion of that moment, that I knew I would be here today,” she said,
describing the anger and anguish that shot through her while watching on TV from her New
Jersey living room.
On Friday, 200 miles south, she wore a mask inscribed with “BLACK LIVES MATTER” and a red
T-shirt featuring the same words, surrounded by the faces of 11 dead Black people: Floyd,
Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Sean Bell,
Jordan Davis, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 43 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 44 of 49
Read the full story here.
By Emily Davies, Lola Fadulu and John Woodrow Cox
9:37 a.m.
Band plays ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ at Lincoln Memorial
Just before 9 a.m., a band played “A Change Is Gonna Come” to hundreds of people who sat in
folding chairs spaced six feet apart beneath the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Speakers, public figures and families affected by police violence were invited to sit in the fenced-
off area between the Memorial and the Reflecting Pool. A row of empty chairs in the front was
reserved for members of Congress.
As the first speakers took the podium, the credentialed guests stayed socially distanced with
umbrellas over their heads to block the sun and handmade posters resting in their laps.
Meanwhile, a crowd trickled into the grassy lawn behind the fenced-off area. They sat in clusters
and listened to speeches echoing from large speakers, occasionally erupting in cheers.
By Emily Davies
9:06 a.m.
Group from Milwaukee walks 750 miles to join D.C. rally
A group of people, who walked from Milwaukee, arrived at the Lincoln Memorial at 7:37 a.m.
Friday to participate in demonstrations.
“We had to do over 30 miles a day each day on this march, and that made it more difficult,” said
Frank Nitty, 39, who led the 750-mile journey that started in early August.
“All the blisters, all the pain in our legs, our feet, and on our journey we’ve been through so
much,” he said.
About 20 people joined Nitty when he set out, but more people joined as they passed through
cities. By the time the group arrived at the memorial Friday morning, there were 70 people.
The journey was tough, Nitty said. Walkers were blocked from using bathrooms at gas stations.
They said they were called the n-word. They were hit by a car.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 44 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 45 of 49
Orsino Thurman, 37, who was also involved in the walk, said he was shot by a man and
hospitalized in Bedford County, Pa. He said he wasn’t deterred.
“We made it, wasn’t nothing going to stop us,” Thurman said.
By Lola Fadulu and Marissa Lang
8:52 a.m.
Photos: The morning before the march
By Tim Richardson
8:18 a.m.
Police brutality, voting rights, racial justice: Echoes from
1963′s March on Washington
On Friday, legions of Americans will descend on the nation’s capital resolved to take advantage of
“the fierce urgency of now,” a phrase coined by Martin Luther King Jr. on the very same day in
1963.
The full name of that historic gathering on Aug. 28 was called the March on Washington for Jobs
and Freedom. This time, it’s the Get Your Knee Off Our Necks March on Washington.
As if more than half a century ago had hardly passed, the two events partly mirror each other in
theme: police brutality, voting rights and new legislation to ensure equal treatment. Both the 1963
march and the Friday event — co-sponsored by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network,
the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and
others — share the goal of pressuring lawmakers to act. The 1963 march helped spur the passage
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 2020 gathering aims to assure that the John R. Lewis Voting
Rights Act of 2020becomes law, as well as a robust police reform bill named after George Floyd,
who died in a police killing in May in Minneapolis after an officer knelt on his neck.
The parallels point to the racist policies, behavior and ideas that stubbornly persist, despite the
great strides African Americans have made since the 1960s, said Leonard Steinhorn, a professor
of communication and affiliate professor of history at American University who lectures about
American politics and the 1960s.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 45 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 46 of 49
See the full story.
By Sydney Trent
8:11 a.m.
First-time protesters line Constitution Avenue near the
Lincoln Memorial
The line spilled down Constitution Avenue and turned onto Henry Bacon Drive, flanking the
Lincoln Memorial with swarms of masked people carrying posters, bullhorns and backpacks of
snacks in preparation for a long day on the Mall.
In line stood first-time protesters from across the country, who said that the killings of George
Floyd and Breonna Taylor were seminal moments in their lives.
Marilyn Boddy traveled from New Jersey for her first protest in 62 years.
“Breonna Taylor hit me deep,” said Boddy, who is Black. “If you are not comfortable in your own
home, where are you safe?”
Standing with her cousin in matching red shirts, Boddy adjusted a plastic bag that held a sausage
sandwich and other snacks from her hotel.
“We are sick and tired,” she said. “At this point I’d crawl over glass to be here.”
Janice Orgaro, who described herself as “over 70,” flew in from Georgia to march in her first
protest.
“I flew here to make a statement that we matter,” said Orgaro, who is Black. She wore a
homemade shirt that read “Always Remember The Struggle of Our Ancestors.”
Though she says her friends tell her she should be, Orgaro is not a history teacher. But she said
she hopes the history of the United States — “built on the backs of Black people” — will be a
centerpiece of today’s march.
“This is not just one day,” she said. “It’s our history on display.”
By Emily Davies
7:30 a.m.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 46 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 47 of 49
Mothers who lost sons to police brutality among those first
in line
Mothers who said they have lost sons to police brutality were among the first to get their
temperatures checked Friday before entering the “Get Your Knees Off Our Necks” demonstration
in Washington.
Monica Watson, 53, said she lost her son in 2014 to an incident of police brutality in Winston-
Salem, N.C.
“I want to speak out because it’s a little small town, and my son’s case got swept under the rug,”
she said.
Another mother, Carol Harrison Lafayette, 54, said her son was jumped by five Dallas police
officers in 2017, and she witnessed the encounter.
“I stood there, and I actually watched them jump on my son,” she said. “Not only did they jump
on him when they hurt my son, they took him to jail, instead of the hospital.”
Medical students from Howard University are among those who volunteered to take people’s
temperatures. Volunteers through the National Action Network passed out gloves, hand sanitizer,
masks and neon green wristbands to participants as they entered the rally.
By Lola Fadulu
7:13 a.m.
25-day walk to D.C. brings racism, arrests and a sense of
urgency for March on Washington activists
Before police shot a Black man from Wisconsin seven times in the back at point-blank range,
before the National Guard was called in amid nightly unrest, a group of Milwaukee activists set off
on a protest march calling for an end to racist policing and injustice that would wind through
mountains and cross state lines.
In cities big and small, they raised their fists and chanted, “Black lives matter.” In sleepy suburbs,
they marched and bobbed down empty streets to the beat of music from a tinny cellphone speaker
or the windows of a support vehicle in their growing caravan.
They were heading to the 2020 March on Washington the old-fashioned way: by putting one foot
in front of the other.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 47 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 48 of 49
Led by Milwaukee activist Frank Sensabaugh, better known as Frank Nitty, the group began its
trek in a Milwaukee parking lot on Aug. 4.
Twenty-five days later — after arrests, a shooting and countless conversations with angry and
frightened White residents worried that a “Black lives matter” chant was a foghorn warning of
violence — the group plans to arrive early Friday in the nation’s capital, where Nitty will take the
stage at the Lincoln Memorial.
See the full story.
By Marissa Lang
6:44 a.m.
Civil rights rally closes streets in downtown Washington
A large section of downtown D.C. will be closed to traffic and street parking on Friday to
accommodate the civil rights march and related demonstrations.
Beginning about 6 a.m., D.C. police were shutting down roads generally south of L Street NW
between 12th and 18th streets, down to Constitution Avenue.
Constitution Avenue will be closed from 12th to 23rd streets, and all streets around the Lincoln
Memorial will be blocked off. Independence Avenue will be closed from the Arlington Memorial
Bridge to 12th Street SW.
No-parking orders will be in effect beginning at midnight on Friday.
By Marissa Lang
6:41 a.m.
What you need to know about the civil rights rally in D.C.
Friday’s civil rights rally timed to the 57th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s
seminal “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered in 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, is
expected to bring thousands to the same location on the Mall.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
March on Washington: Thousands rally in D.C. to demand racial equality - The Washi… Page 48 of 48
Case 1:20-cv-02710-TNM Document 4-42 Filed 09/22/20 Page 49 of 49
Headlined by the Rev. Al Sharpton, who will be joined by King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King
III, and family members of several men and women who were killed by law enforcement officers,
the demonstration will conclude a week of large-scale events in the nation’s capital, including
days of protests and a fireworks display Thursday night over the Washington Monument to mark
the end of the Republican National Convention.
The Friday march — dubbed the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” March on Washington — will
take place in D.C. as the region continues to navigate a still-raging coronavirus pandemic. March
on Washington organizers initially thought at least 100,000 people would gather, but a permit
issued Tuesday indicates they now expect about 50,000 people will attend.
See the latest in our FAQ.
By Marissa Lang
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/28/march-on-washington-protest-dc/ 9/22/2020
File and source
- File
- gov.uscourts.dcd.222397.4.42_1.pdf
- Size
- 777,090 bytes
- SHA-256
- ab1247960b34b1a5a79d85ecc229eb857ab961da68ba35eafc336f0f21e3c225
- Original
- No public link identified.