A chorus of speakers rallied the massive crowd with prayers for peace and calls for justice that were at once testaments to King’s historical legacy and nods to contemporary issues, from hotly debated policing tactics to voting rights.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who co-organized Saturday’s march with King’s son, Martin Luther King III, gave a fiery keynote address that carried out his earlier promise to focus the day’s observances on the “issues that have stood in the way” of fulfilling King’s goals.
Sharpton, who founded and heads the National Action Network and also hosts a program on MSNBC, aimed squarely at the Supreme Court’s decision in June to strike down a key anti-discrimination provision of 1965’s Voting Rights Act, which triggered a wave of restrictive voting laws in several states.
