Organizers at the 2020 March on Washington wanted to make one thing clear: The dream Martin Luther King Jr. shared at the 1963 march has not yet become a reality.

King’s son, Martin Luther King III, who spoke Friday, likened the country’s past and present to nothing less than an “American nightmare of racist violence.”

Since May, American cities have been embroiled in protests expressing outrage and seeking justice for the police killings of Black Americans. On the 57th anniversary of the original March on Washington, the National Mall became a stage for that national outcry.

For those who have seen local protests in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, some scenes would have been familiar: crowds of people wearing face masks, vendors hawking specialty t-shirts, homemade signs showcasing this year’s peculiar zeitgeist (WAP: Women Against Police Brutality, for example).


Other scenes were less familiar. The jumbotrons, temperature checks, and wristbands were all reminders that the march was a mass gathering — likely the biggest Black Lives Matter gathering this year — and that the coronavirus is still a serious risk. Still, marchers were joyful, defiant and vocal.

This summer, D.C. native Koy McKoy, 28, traveled to participate in protests in Oakland, New York, and Baltimore and was surprised by the solidarity generated between city protesters and how well organized local demonstrations were. In comparison, he said Friday’s march was “pretty disorganized.”

Some attendees waited in line for hours while others were able to simply walk into the event. The grid system designed to keep attendees six feet apart dissolved as thousands of people flooded the National Mall.

Organized by a panel of longtime Black civil rights organizations, the speaker lineup included Washington area protesters, but took on a slightly different tone than recent demonstrations in the area.

McKoy said Friday’s march felt more like a remembrance than a protest.

When asked what solutions to police brutality he stood for, he pointed to his sign, inspired by N*SYNC lyrics: “You’re all I ever wanted (Equality). You’re all I ever needed (Equity). So defund the police now!”

The proposal to reduce funding for law enforcement has been a rallying cry for protesters in cities across the country. Just days earlier, political leaders at the Republican National Convention framed it as part of the Democrat Party platform, despite a minority of Democratic leaders supporting the idea. At Friday’s march, speakers opted instead to encourage protesters to vote.

To activists who want to circle back to defunding the police, McKoy says: “There’s a middle ground for everything.”

What should be remembered from this year’s March on Washington? “Platitudes like ‘Black Lives Matter’ — exercise that every single day of your life,” said McKoy. “Fight white supremacy every day of your life.”