At about 4:15 p.m., a group of about 20 drummers and musicians were parading down the middle of 13th Street NW in Columbia Heights, playing their instruments and headed south to the African American Civil War Memorial at 10th and U Streets NW. The group brought along a wheeled cart with drums and other instruments on it.

People in the parade said they were with the Rhythm Workers Union, a local activist group which holds drum circles around the area. Paraders said the event was organized by email, and some people from the Code Pink antiwar group joined up along the way. The parade stopped for awhile at 13th and Belmont to drum and play their instruments, then said they were pressing on south to the memorial.