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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Singing “We Shall Overcome” and chanting “No justice, no peace,” a sea of tens of thousands of marchers came from places as far-flung as California and New York to demonstrate support for age-old grass-roots issues like better education and more jobs.
The mass of people filed in the sweltering heat behind the Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network and organizer of the Reclaim the Dream”march. He was joined by radio personality Tom Joyner, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, among others.
Making their way from Dunbar High School to the future site of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall, the marchers heeded earlier pleas from Sharpton not to engage Tea party supporters, who, oddly, clapped quietly from the sidelines.
“We wouldn’t disgrace today by allowing you to provoke us,” Sharpton said in a rhetorical call to Glenn Beck supporters.
Tomorrow The Root will bring you a closer look at the Reclaiming the Dream march.
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