CRYING FOR ‘JUSTICE’
50,000 rage against spate of killings by cops Sharpton leads huge march on D.C.
TENS OF THOUSANDS of demonstrators from across the country converged on the nation’s capital Saturday for a massive protest against the deaths of unarmed black men by law enforcement.
The “Justice for All” rally in Washington was organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton after the cops involved in the deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner on Staten Island were not indicted.
“It’s just so overwhelming to see all of you who have come to stand with us today,” Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, said. “Look at the masses — blacks, whites, all races, all religions. This is just a great moment. This is a historymaking moment.”
Marchers joined Carr and other family members of nearly a dozen people killed by police — including relatives of Brown, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice and Amadou Diallo — at Freedom Plaza, blocks from the White House, before noon.
“Our sons, they may not be here in body, but they’re here with us in each and every one of you,” Carr said, wearing a gray sweater with “I can’t breathe” emblazoned on the front. “Y’all brought them here today.”
The rally made its way down a 3-mile stretch of Pennsylvania Ave., passing the Department of Justice, with marchers carrying signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and “We Can’t Breathe.”
Samaria Rice, the mother of 12-yearold Tamir Rice who was shot and killed by a rookie Cleveland police officer last month, addressed the crowd at Freedom Plaza.
“I have one thing to say to the police force, ‘don’t shoot, our children want to grow,’ ” Rice said before joining Sharpton and the families of other victims at the front of the march. “We will have justice!”
Tamir’s death was ruled a homicide by a Cuyahoga County, Ohio medical examiner Friday. Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland cop who killed Tamir, has been placed on limited duty.
Some in the crowd likened the rally to the massive Civil Rights marches of the 1960s.
“This is something that doesn’t stop,” said Diane Hicks, 64, a retired educator from Beltsfield, Md. “To be honest with you, police brutality is something that’s been going on since the inception of this country.”
“I just hope these people stay because it’s going to take more than just today,” she said. “We’ve got centuries of hate, institutionalized racism to clean up. That’s not gonna happen overnight.”
DeEarnest McLemore, 58, a retired city worker from Dayton, Ohio, joined the rally after a ninehour journey by bus. He said he saw the similarities to the past, but wanted to stay focused on the future.
“If you can’t be comfortable in your own community, then what kind of society are we living in?” he asked.
Scores of New Yorkers made the four-hour trek to join the protest.
Sharpton’s National Action Network headquarters on W. 145th St. was abuzz at 5 a.m. as about 300 demonstrators began boarding buses bound for the march.
“It’s affecting not just New York. It’s not just Eric Garner; it’s not just Mike Brown. This is happening to countless people all over the country, some that we never even get to hear about,” blasted Kiya Becote, 36, a Harlem
resident marching with her son, Malachi Becote, 10, who held a sign that read “I could be next.”
Police presence appeared minimal in and around the Washington march.
The massive crowd of protesters peacefully gathered at a stage set up at the edge of the National Mall, in the shadows of the U.S. Capitol building.
Organizers put the crowd between 40,000 to 50,000. A police spokesman declined to provide a crowd estimate, citing department policy, but added that there had been no incidents.
“Wow . . . what a sea of people,” Michael Brown’s mother, Leslie McSpadden marveled.
“If they don’t see this and make a change, I don’t know what we’re gonna do.”
Kadiatou Diallo, the mother whose son was unarmed when he was shot dead by NYPD cops in 1999 after they mistakenly thought he was reaching for a weapon, joined the families of more recent victims on stage during the rally. She lamented that she and the rest of the wid- ows and mothers who lost sons and husbands are part of an infamous, terrible club. “This sorority of sisters, we the moms, we don’t want to belong to this group,” Diallo said. “We’ve paid a heavy price to be here.”
Sharpton took the stage shortly after 2 p.m. and called on Congress to pass legislation allowing federal prosecutors to take over cases involving police misconduct or shootings.
“We need national legislation and intervention to save us from state grand juries that say it’s all right to choke people, even on tape, and you won’t bring ’em to court,” Sharpton told the cheering crowd.
Sharpton also called for a law establishing a judicial threshold in police-citizen incidents and a division in the DOJ to be created to specifically deal with police-involved deaths.
“This is about the victims,” Sharpton said. “We have the same goal and that is equal protection under the law, and that’s not black against white, it’s right against wrong.”