Hundreds of Ferguson Protesters March in DC, Call for Social Justice

WASHINGTON, November 26 (Sputnik) — Hundreds of protesters chanted and carried signs through the streets of Washington, DC, Tuesday night to show solidarity with Michael Brown, a black teenager shot dead by a police officer in Ferguson in August and other victims of police violence.

“If politicians don’t put issues of police terrorism at the forefront of their agenda we will make their life miserable,” Eugene Puryear, a DC activist and leader of DC Ferguson, said to an energized crowd.

Young people are feeling their power and seeking to make change, he said, making Ferguson “not a moment but a movement.”

That movement envisions empowered communities and an end to police violence, and the message was overlaid with calls for economic and social justice.

Speaking to the crowd, Nicki Lewis, the executive director of DC Jobs for Justice, described a situation where people and institutions in the United States are abusing their power.

“They are creating a society that we live in fear,” she said, going on to single out Walmart – the country’s largest employer — as one institution putting profits over people through low-wages, no benefits and anti-worker policies. She called, as have other civic and religious organizations throughout the country, for a boycott of Walmart.

“If we don’t get it we gonna shut it down,” the crowd shouted, as hundreds started a nearly two hour march shutting down the streets of downtown DC. Raising their hands in the air, chants of “Hands up, don’t shoot” echoed through the crowd in unison throughout the evening.

For older protesters like Rashim Wright, the action showed young people the importance of strength and unity in numbers. “For the younger generation who didn’t get a chance to see the Civil Rights Movement it’s important for them to experience this level of activism,” he said, as protesters descended at one point on Walmart to condemn low wages.

The protest was peaceful and organized, aided in part by police clearing the roads as the crowd shut down the streets. No violence, vandalism or issues occurred.

The call to protest came following Monday's grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri, not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for the fatal shootingof 18-year-old African-American Michael Brown in August. The jury's decision came after nearly three months of deliberation, over a case that reignited issues of race and police brutality throughout the United States, inciting massive protests around the country over the summer.

Thirty-eight US states, Washington DC and over 140 other US cities have organized demonstrations throughout the day on Tuesday under the banner of "Emergency Response Protests to Ferguson Grand Jury Decision".

US President Barack Obama said Tuesday that what is happening in Ferguson is proof of deeper internal problems in the country.