Seats are available on a free bus trip to Washington, D.C. for Harrisburg-area residents interested in participating in the “Commitment March on Washington” whose rallying call is “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks.”
The march will take place on the 57th anniversary of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech.
“I grew up a target of racial profiling,” said Black Lives Matter organizer Claudie Kenion. The 51-year-old said he’s been pushing back against racism since the 1980s, but his fight was reignited by the death of George Floyd when restrained by a Minneapolis police officer.
Black Lives Matter is working with local central Pennsylvania nonprofits UniteCentralPA and reloved to fill up to 100 bus seats. More than 100,000 people are expected to attend the march in Washington that will descend on the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28.
“We’re tired of being mistreated,” Kenion said. “We’re gonna fight until the world wakes up. This movement is not dying again, no more. In Harrisburg, the mayor and city officials, and police, they are starting to work with us.”
The rallying call “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” gets to the heart of the matter, he said.
“We’re trying to educate people on systemic racism,” Kenion said. “As soon as people see the word Black, our movement becomes a problem; they don’t understand. We’re not supporting violence or looting. It takes a small fraction of people to mess up our message. We’re not a Marxist group, no that’s not us. We’re looking to sit down and talk to people. Having a professional dialogue goes a long way.”
Personally, Kenion recalls being expelled when he was in middle school. He said a classmate called him a racial slur, but that it was Kenion who was kicked out for defending himself when the classmate took a swing at him.
Students, both black and white, defended him, he said. But he was the one who had to leave school to attend another one.
“I think that we are at a historic point in America,” said reloved Founder and CEO Heather Norton. “The Civil Rights Movement has, unfortunately, had to continue 57 years later after Martin Luther King gave his ‘I Have A Dream Speech.’ Now is our opportunity to speak up and use our voices to make the change that we so desperately need.”
Donations to help pay for the trip have been pouring in, Norton said. All participants riding along will be provided free face masks and hand sanitizer. The groups also will be handing out gift bags once in D.C. that include sunscreen, water, snacks, and other items provided by Lowes and Costco in Harrisburg.
To ensure the safety of passengers during the coronavirus pandemic, Norton said the buses will be “fumigated and sanitized.”
Anyone who has an underlying health issue is asked to stay at home, Kenion said.
“We were told by Al Sharpton’s group that they are going to go through with the march no matter what,” he said. “The (owner) of the charter buses said as long as we are in the green phase, we can fill up all the seats on the bus. If we are in the yellow phase, we have to seat every other seat.”
The groups will adhere to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Temperature checks will be done on the morning of the event. Masks are required to be worn roundtrip while on the bus. And, participants must sign a COVID-19 waiver before departing.
The free trip is available until all seats are filled.
“This movement isn’t just about statistics,” Norton said. “It’s about sitting down with our neighbors and having conversations, and not turning the other way when we see something or hear something that’s unjust. We need to broaden our focus and it starts at the community level. It’s not just speaking out about the criminal justice system; it’s about funding education, access to medical care, and fixing the mental health system.”
Click on this link to register for the event.
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