Above Photo: In the wake of Charlottesville, thousands gathered across the country—including outside the White House—to denounce white supremacy. (Photo: Ted Eytan/Flickr/cc)
“We know that this is a very dangerous moment in our nation’s history, a moment that requires action.”
In response to the violent white supremacist gatherings that killed one and injured dozens in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this month, a coalition of community members, students, and clergy have organized a 10-day, 112-mile march from Charlottesville to Washington, D.C., which begins Monday, August 28 at Emancipation Park.
“We will demand our country reckon with its long history of white supremacy, that our nation’s leadership side with those of us who will no longer abide it.”
—March organizers
“We are answering the call from faith and community leaders in Charlottesville to dismantle white supremacy in our country by taking their demand for moral leadership to Washington D.C.,” declares the group’s website, which features details about their march route, and their plans to launch a wave of actions in Washington.
“We know that this is a very dangerous moment in our nation’s history, a moment that requires action. We are marching to D.C. in the spirit of love, equity, and justice like those before us did in the face of hatred and oppression,” the march organizers said in a statement.
“We will demand our country reckon with its long history of white supremacy, that our nation’s leadership side with those of us who will no longer abide it, and we call for the removal of all those, including the president, who refuse to do so,” organizers also said.
In D.C., they plan to engage in “a sustained civil disobedience campaign,” and demand that President Donald Trump be removed from office. Their demands echo growing support for impeachment and suspicions that Trump will resign that began surfacing even before he repeatedly blamed the deadly violence in Charlotteville “on both sides,” instead of unequivocally condemning the white supremacists.
The marchers plan to stop at various Confederate monuments along their route before arriving in D.C. on September 6. White supremacists and Neo-Nazis descended on Charlottesville two weeks ago in part to protest the city’s plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, but their demonstrations spurred a national movement to take down other Confederate monuments across the country.
The march follows the mobilization of thousands who have organized and attended anti-racist demonstrations across the U.S., in response to Charlottesville. From Boston to San Francisco, far-right and white supremacist gatherings have been overshadowed or cancelled by demonstrators who aim to “spread joy, love, and celebrate living in diversity.”
Several organizations have already signed on as march partners, including Action Group Network, Color of Change, Center for Popular Democracy, Democracy Spring, IFNOTNOW, IUPAT, the March for Racial Justice, Million Hoodies Movement for Justice, the Movement for Black Lives, the People’s Consortium, PICO, Resist Here, United We Dream, the Women’s March, and Working Families Party.