Thousands converge on Washington for 'Get Your Knee Off Our Necks' March

"Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" March
(Image credit: Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images)

About 50,000 people are expected at the "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" March in Washington, D.C., on Friday, planned months ago to coincide with the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. The headline speakers, including Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, are scheduled to take the stage at 11 a.m., but people were waiting in line before 8 a.m. for temperature and registration checks. Black mothers who said they lost sons to police brutality were the first in line, The Washington Post reports.

The rally, on the Washington Mall, will also feature speeches by the families of Jacob Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and Eric Garner. After the speeches, attendees will march from the Lincoln Memorial to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The organizers originally expected 100,000 people to attend, but they scaled back their projections citing chartered busses canceled due to COVID-19 issues.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.