About 10,000 protesters marched to the U.S Capitol to call
for an end to racial profiling by police.
The peaceful civil
rights march led by families of the slain and organized by the Rev. Al
Sharpton’s National Action Network drew a wide range of Americans – black,
white, Latino, Asian, young and elderly.
Thousands of people assembled in
Freedom Plaza, a couple of blocks from the White House, before setting off at
noon on a three-mile march down Pennsylvania Avenue for a rally at the U.S.
Capitol in a pageant of colorful t-shirts, banners and signs.
Decisions by grand juries to return no indictments against
the officers involved in the death of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner
in New York have put the issue of police treatment of minorities back on the
national agenda.
Demonstrators were marching with signs
that reading “Black Lives Matter” and “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?”
“This is not a black march or a white march,” Sharpton said.
“This is an American march so the rights of all Americans are protected. I’m
inspired when I see white kids holding up signs saying ‘Black Lives Matter.”
Sharpton urged Congress to pass legislation that would allow
federal prosecutors to take over cases involving police. He said local district
attorneys often work with police regularly, raising the potential of conflicts
of interest when prosecutors investigate incidents, he said.
Rep. Al Green representing Texas was there too and said “We
are here because we refuse to accept injustice.” promising that Congress would
pass legislation seeking better oversight of policing across the country
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