Amid race tensions, US remembers MLK’S march
WASHINGTON: Capping a week of protests and outrage over the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin, civil rights advocates began highlighting the scourge of police and vigilante violence against Black Americans at a commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Thousands gathered on Friday near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where the Rev Martin Luther King, Jr delivered his historic “I Have A Dream” address, a vision of racial equality that remains elusive for millions of Americans.
And they are gathering on the heels of yet another shooting by a white police officer of a Black man — this time, 29-year-old Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last Sunday — sparking days of protests and violence that left two dead.
Blake survived the shooting, but has been paralysed, his lawyers told reporters this week.
His father has said he will attend the march. His lawyer is expected to speak, as are other victims of police brutality.
A judge postponed a decision on Friday on whether a 17-yearold responsible for the killings at the protest in the aftermath of Blake’s shooting should be returned to Wisconsin.
On Tuesday, the third night of those protests, Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teen who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle walked Kenosha’s streets with other armed civilians, saying he was protecting businesses from vandalism. Prosecutors have accused him of killing two men who tried to disarm him and wounding a third. His lawyers have argued he was acting in selfdefence. Rittenhouse was taken into custody on Wednesday in his hometown of Antioch, Illinois.
The Illinois judge granted Rittenhouse’s request to delay the extradition hearing to September 25 during a brief hearing that was streamed online. Rittenhouse did not appear.
Earlier on Friday, the UN human rights office said that the images of the shooting of Blake in Wisconsin appeared to show that the police officer had used “excessive” force that was likely discriminatory in nature.