The Oklahoma Eagle Newswire
Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, founder of the Terence Crutcher Foundation is expected to join tens of thousands on Friday at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the historic 1963 civil rights March on Washington. The demonstration, taking place on the 57th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, seeks “to restore and recommit to the dream Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. defined” that year.
The Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network began planning the march in partnership with the NAACP and others after he announced the event during George Floyd’s funeral in June. The announcement came at the height of nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice spurred by the police killing of Floyd — who died in late May after a White Minneapolis police officer knelt on the Black man’s neck — and other Black Americans. Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, a son of the late civil rights legend, are expected to participate in the event.
More than 200,000 people participated in the original 1963 march, officially titled the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” which was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and others.
This year’s March on Washington — dubbed the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” Commitment March — will reiterate the demands for police reform, criminal justice reform, and racial equality.
In announcing the march in June, Sharpton said it would be led by the families that “know the pain” and know what it’s like to be “neglected,” including the families of George Floyd, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Amaud Arbery, Terence Crutcher, Botham Jean, Trayvon Martin, Jacob Blake and more.
“We are in the middle of a double pandemic fighting against COVID19 & against the killing of unarmed Black citizens. The push for legislation to hold police officers accountable for these agregious acts have never been more urgent” said Crutcher whose twin brother Terence Crutcher was killed by a Tulsa police officer in 2016.
NAN will also encourage attendees to fill out the 2020 US Census, register to vote, and sign up to be poll workers and monitors.
Follow the 2020 March on Washington here: https://2020march.com/
