“No justice?” Rev. Al Sharpton said over a microphone to “No peace!” shouts from the crowd filling the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington DC on Monday.
As Donald Trump was set to be sworn in for his second term on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the National Action Network (NAN) organized a rally in the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington DC to celebrate King’s legacy and announce plans to respond in defiance to President Donald Trump’s proposed policies
Multiple speakers from NAN rallied the packed church as they talked about King, Black history, and the challenges that communities face today, especially those exacerbated by the policies and rhetoric from conservatives in governmental positions of power.
Michael Aziz Zarif Shabazz said after the rally that the top priority is to combat regressive policies from Trump and others in his camp.
Shabazz said those who support policies like rolling back voter protections, removing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, removing affirmative action, and proposals found in Project 2025 want to maintain white supremacy.
In his speech at the rally, Sharpton said that DEI was “a remedy to the racial institutionalized bigotry practiced in academia and in these corporations.” Sharpton said removing DEI was reverting back to more racist practices from America’s past, akin to putting people of color “back in the back of the bus.”
Sharpton outlined NAN’s plan to combat the new president’s proposals to end DEI at the rally: targeted boycotts. He said the network would take 90 days to figure out which major companies were abandoning DEI initiatives, and which ones embraced them, then NAN would call to boycott the largest companies abandoning DEI and support the companies still supporting the ideals.
“We shouldn’t have been letting companies talk to us like we ain’t got no leverage,” Sharpton said in his speech. “We’re gonna support those companies that stand up and tell the truth.”
Sharpton highlighted in his speech that boycotts were a preferred method of King in his day, and encouraged the rally’s attendees to follow suit when the time comes.
Before the rally started, attendee Jewel Shears said that the people need to come together to take effective action against the new administration.
“We’re gonna have to stand up and fight like we did before, against him,” Shears said. “But we all need to come together, not just some of us, we all have to come together if we really want to bring about change.”
Later on Monday, Trump signed multiple executive orders that included a pardon for over 1,500 people charged in connection to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, and an order to end birthright citizenship for all but those born to existing US citizens or permanent residents.
Also major Trump campaign donor turned political appointee Elon Musk gave an apparent Nazi salute at the rally following the inauguration.
Attendee Sylvia Williams said before the rally that Trump’s return to office, while unfortunate, is a chance to galvanize communities to more aggressively continue the work of figures like King.
“I think we are right where we’re supposed to be,” Sylvia Williams said. “Our ancestors brought us a very far way and I think we got so complacent with the fact of what they’ve done and then enjoying and their glory that they accomplished for us that we kind of dropped the ball. I think it’s letting us know that it’s time for us to pick up where they left off, and really realize that we have a job to do.”
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