Washington DC – More than 300,000 people are gathered on the mall today for the March on Washington, with at least 150,000 on each side of the reflecting pool. The massive crowd is largely African-American, mobilized by the 50-year anniversary of Martin Luther King’s speech and by the pressing demand for justice for Trayvon Martin. African-American groups range from Florida’s Dream Defenders, to New Jersey’s People’s Organization for Progress, to the national NAACP. There is also a big union mobilization, with the United Auto Workers turning out thousands of members in t-shirts. Many other unions and their associated groups like Working America are also out in force.

BJ Murphy drove up to the March on Washington from North Carolina and he said, “We arrived early, a little after 8:00 AM, and there were already tens of thousands on the Mall. It is great to see! On the down side, people are growing frustrated about feeling trapped. The police put up huge fences and there are choke points so people feel penned in, unable to come or go, and some folks are growing angry.”

Murphy continues, “The crowd is so big and so loud that it is challenging for African-American leaders and government officials to speak over the crowd. The crowd is impatient and looking forward to the march and being allowed more freedom to move.”

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