Wisconsin protesters play central role at D.C. march
Jacob Blake’s sister calls for Black American unity
Protest leaders and victims of police violence from southeast Wisconsin played a central role Friday in the Rev. Al Sharpton’s March on Washington.
Milwaukee protest leader Frank “Nitty” Sensabaugh, who arrived in Washington, D.C., Friday morning after marching 750 miles with a group from Milwaukee, spoke to the thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial.
“We need to demand change, not ask for change,” he told the crowd. “They think this is a negotiation. This is not a negotiation.”
Many speakers mentioned Jacob Blake, shot in the back seven times by a Kenosha police officer. Sharpton brought Blake’s family, as well as the families of Joel Acevedo and Sylville Smith, on stage with him before the crowd began marching to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
Sharpton organized the Get Your Knee Off Our Necks Commitment March on Washington, along with the National Action Network, marking the 57th anniversary of the historic March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech.
Blake’s sister, Letetra Widman, called on “Black America” to unify and stand up to the “genocide” of Black men in the country.
“We will not be a footstool to oppression,” she said. “You must stand, you must fight, but not with violence and chaos.”
She called on Black women to be their “brother’s keeper;” Black children to “read, learn, grow, and live, and question everything”; and Black men to stand up and educate themselves.
Blake’s father, also named Jacob Blake, said his father attended the 1963 March on Washington.
“There are two systems of justice in the United States. There’s a white system and there’s a Black system. The Black system ain’t doing so well,” he said.
“I’m tired of looking at cameras and seeing these young Black and brown people suffer,” he said.
Also speaking at the march was the father of Joel Acevedo, who died after Milwaukee police officer Michael Mattioli put him in a chokehold during a fight at the off-duty officer’s house.
Jose Acevedo wore a mask emblazoned with an image of his son and “#JoelsLifeMattered.”
“Joel Acevedo did not deserve to die,” he told the crowd.
B’Ivory LaMarr, the attorney representing the families of both Acevedo and Blake, said the pattern of police violence in America will be put to a stop.
“2020 is the year that America is going to be put on timeout,” he said. “This is the last season of the police version of ‘How to Get Away with Murder.’”
LaMarr also thanked the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA, the MLB and the celebrities who have used their platform to speak out about racism.
Milwaukee group completes 24-day trek to D.C.
Sensabaugh was joined on stage by Sandy Solomon of Milwaukee, another activist with the group that numbered about 60 people by the time they crossed into D.C. on Friday morning.
“I’m tired,” Sensabaugh told the crowd. “My grandsons ain’t going to be marching for the same stuff my granddaddy marched for.”
He asked the attendees to continue marching in their own cities and to vote President Donald Trump out of office in November.
“While we marched these 750 miles, everybody that came and chastised us, everybody that came with shotguns, everybody that came messing with us had Trump signs,” he said. “That’s the new way that they exhibit racism in this country and hide behind it.”
Sensabaugh and other activists left Caledonia Aug. 4 with the goal to reach D.C. by Friday. The group endured blistered feet, arrests, harassment and a spray of gunfire over the course of the trip.
“It’s indescribable,” Sensabaugh told USA TODAY on Friday morning as he stood on the National Mall. “I was crying for a while. I was tired because I haven’t slept in three days. Then I was crying again.”
The shooting of Blake has made the group’s demonstration even more necessary, said Tory Lowe, a Milwaukee victims advocate and march leader.
“This march was meant to happen because look what’s happening in the state of Wisconsin,” Lowe said. “This is why we’re marching. It brings validation to the fact of why we ever started this march in the first place.”
In Indiana, state police arrested Sensabaugh and Lowe because they said the group was blocking traffic. They were released within hours. And in Pennsylvania, a man apparently came out of his home and fired bird shot at the group of marchers. Sensabaugh’s bodyguard was hit and treated at a hospital.
As the marchers left Pennsylvania on Wednesday night, a group of residents – some armed – lined the streets and yelled slurs, Lowe said. At the same time, other residents came out to protect the marchers, he said.
“It’s been a spiritual journey, and it’s an eye-opening journey for many of us because we’re seeing outright racism as we walk,” Lowe said. “It’s been 24 days, and every day is something. Not one day have we been out here and someone hasn’t thrown racial slurs.”
Sensabaugh and Lowe said they’ve also been heartened by the outpouring of support for the march. At one point in Indiana, a group of residents brought the marchers two week’s worth of supplies, water and shoes. Some nurses volunteered to look at their feet.
“It was amazing, and the spirit of humanity was alive,” Lowe said. “There are some people working to change things in these communities as well.”
In the final days of the march, the group started breaking up the day’s mileage into morning and night crews. Lowe and his cohort walked from Wednesday afternoon to about 5 a.m. Thursday, when Sensabaugh and others caught up to them in their car caravan and began their walking shift.
“I marched 82 miles yesterday,” Sensabaugh said. “We just did it.”
Their group of 60 people (plus cats and dogs) — some with bleeding feet and pulled calf muscles — crossed into D.C. around 7:30 a.m. Friday, Sensabaugh said.
“There’s a lot of joy, happiness, and relief,” Sensabaugh said. “Between being tired and overwhelmed with emotions, I’m at a loss for words for the first time in my life. I’m trying to soak it all in.”