Al Sharpton reportedly led thousands of blacks in a march on Washington today (Friday) demanding the federal government act against racial hate crimes and give fair treatment to black offenders.
Protesters also complained of cases where young blacks have been killed or roughly treated by police, while those who threatened blacks by hanging nooses have not been punished.
Demonstrators marched through the streets of the capital’s administrative center and towards the Department of Justice, shouting “No justice, no peace,” and “What do we want? Justice!”
Sharpton has called for Congress and the Democratic presidential candidates to be more forceful in speaking out about recent hate crimes and the policies of President Bush’s Justice Department.
He joined other activists including Martin Luther King III in Washington to discuss the march at the Justice Department, which they contend has taken no serious action to prosecute a spate of recent noose-hanging incidents following the Jena Six case.
Sharpton said he was upset those issues weren’t discussed last month at a debate among the Democratic candidates, nor were they mentioned in last night’s CNN debate in Las Vegas.
Blackamericaweb.com contributed to this report