March for justice. The 54th anniversary of the march happened on monday. Reverend al sharpton marched on the Justice Department stopping along the way to protest at the trump hotel. What do we want . When do we want it . When do we want it . Without further ado, let us hear from our first speaker for the rally in front of the Justice Department, let us hear now from jay david cox, sr. , the National President of afge. No justice no justice brothers and sisters i come to you today from the American Federation of government employees, the people that says government is good and government should stand for all of its citizens in an equal mannerism and brothers and sisters i come to you today with love, love. Its time that we bring back love to this country. You know, lets stop and lets think. Hatred of the stranger, people who are different, people who come from somewhere else, that speak another language, eat different food, hatred of the unfamiliar is as old as human kind. The bible is the oldest documents that challenges hatred. The Old Testament to treat the stranger as a native, because our ancestors knew what slavery was all about. And in matthew love the stranger, saying i was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink, and i was a stranger and you welcomed me in. Brothers and sisters, its not just our neighbors we must love and treat with respect, its all gods children. All gods children deserve respect, dignity, security, hospitality and comfort. Were all children of one god and everything we say or do must follow from that basic truth. Who are we to turn away and ignore poverty in the midst of the enormous wealth of this great country and land aplenty. Who are we to turn away and ignore injustice in a nation with a constitution and a set of laws guarantee equal protection and the right to vote in this country, brothers and sisters. And who are we to refuse to care for this world and give it the stewardship that god expects of us. We must heed the voices of the prophet and we will not turn away. Brothers and sisters, there is no room for hatred in this country. We cannot continue to tolerate hatred, brothers and sisters. Now, im going to speak from my heart right now, you hear this southern voice . You hear this southern voice . Its time to take those statues down, right now, right now, brothers and sisters, its time to take them down, but, but leave the base so we have to tell our children and our grandchildren what an evil, wicked thing this country did, brothers and sisters, we will never go back. We will never go back. And mr. Trump, i can tell you this, afg has a can of whoopass we are going to open up on you. Thank you, brothers and sisters. Sisters. I dont know if thats in the bible, but all right. The next speaker is my big brother, he is the president of impact, which is a National Organization of ministers and gays and economic and social justice empowerment, Mount Nebo Baptist church in historic hall of new york. Senior pastor johnnie green. No justice. No justice. No justice. Reverend al sharpton president of the National Action network, modern day civil rights leader of the 21st century. Our drum major for justice and reminds us daily where there is no justice theres no peace. Thousands of ministers, rabbis and imams from around the nation have come today first to say thank you for calling us to our Nations Capital on this the 54th anniversary of the march on washington. Were here today for some of the same reasons, those who have come before us came here 54 years ago. Were here today because many of those who sit in the seat of power, the president , the Republican Congress and Republican Senate have once again written us a bad check. The check written to millions of americans, black, brown, jewish, muslim, many others come back stamped with insufficient funds. Were here today at department of justice to say we refuse the issuing of another bad check. When you try to take away health care from more than 26 million americans, youre trying to issue us another bad check. When you cosign the killings of people of color in the name of law and order, leave our black bodies laying in the street, refusing to hear cries of i cant breathe, and when you tell us there are good people among neonazis committing terror on american soil youre trying to issue another bad check. When you take away food stamps from the poor and needy and build airport, governor cuomo, without enough contracts to blacks, you try to issue us another bad check. Were here to say hello to your bad check writing. Here today to serve notice for dream in cs north and north american, were not going to let you turn the dream of dr. King into a nightmare. The dream of dr. King is our dream today. We shall and we will overcome. We will overcome trumpism. We will overcome racism, classism and sexism. Well overcome the high incarceration of our black men and women forcing into institutional slavery. We overcome the devastation and demoralization of our of this new of jim and jane crowe. We will turn your midnight into mid day. No weapon against us shall prosper. Weve been for the night, but joy has come in the morning. And let me remind all of us here today that above the brow of every crisis are written the words, and this, too, shall pass away. And let us remind all of us today that we should stand up and we should stand together. God bless you. Another bad brother, a big brother of mine from a city you may have heard of chicago, illinois, let us hear from the president of the leadership action network, reverend marshall hatch. All right, good afternoon. Today our prayers, of course, are with the people in houston, texas and those victims in Hurricane Harvey and we play for the success of that rescue and recovery. This crisis, of course, reminds us once more and demonstrates to us that we are all in this together. We may have come on different ships, the mayflower, the slave ship, the immigration ship, across the rio grande, but were in this boat together. Now its time to lift voices of faith. Someone has the calling. Someone has to accept the assignment to halt our nations dissent into the slippery slope of fascism and racism and attack on our values. Brothers and sisters, this is not a normal american government. And somebody has to have the courage that the little boy had in the nursery rhyme to remind the country that this emporer has no clothes. Firing the attorney general to stop an investigation of foreign meddling into our election, this is not normal. Pardoning the sheriff convicted of contempt of court and racial profiling, this is not normal. Press briefings from the white house untelevised and filled with misinformation, this is not normal. Threatening nouk wnuclear war by president by tweet is not normal. Refusing to condemn racism and antisemitism is not normal. Somebody has to have the courage to stand up and say, this emporer has no clothes. And so were called as prophets to call it as we see it. This scapegoating of those voting and those most vulnerable reminds of us what was said once by a poet, they came for the muslim and i was not a muslim and i did not speak up. They came for the jews and i was not jew so i did not speak up. They came for the commune in any event and trade unionist, i was neither of those and i did not speak up. Then when it came time to come for me, there was no one to speak up. Now is the time to lift our voices for justice. So, brothers and sisters, we called on this steps of the Justice Department for a new moral vision for america. Everybody in and nobody out. When i grew up in Public Housing in chicago and went to the public school, we were taught to put our hands on our hearts and pledge allegiance of justice for all. So now we expand that promise and say health care for all, the right to vote for all, frem from Police Brutality for all, full employment for all, access to a high quality Public Education for all. We call for the dignity of all of gods children. Everybodys got a right to the free of life so we challenge you with the challenge of the food sheppard who taught his disciples to go into the valleys and low places and gather host who had been scattered like a sheep with no shepard. Go back home, go to the bar rios. Go to the ghettos, weve heard from the voices of fascism, but in 2018 we will hear from the people this is what america looks like. We shall overcome. In the spirit of dr. King, the diversity that reverend al sharpton has gathered here today continues now with one of our jewish temples. Please welcome rabbi Hannah Goldstein of temple sinai. Please welcome her warmly. Im rabbi Hannah Goldstein a rabbi here in washington d. C. My congregation is like yours. We will not stand idly by. This is a sacred season for jews. Were in the month where we prepare for robb Rosh Hashanah yom kippur. In this area of introspection, in the final hours of our fast, we sing words from psalm, and we conclude our worship crying out to god, open the gates of righteousness. We are here to open the gates. To open the gates of righteousness, to open the gates of justice. We are here because it doesnt look like hour Justice Department is trying to do that. Lately, it seems like our Justice Department is working overtime to close those gates and to barricade them shut. To lock the gates to the voting booths. To lock the gates of private prison after filling to capacity, they want to lock the gates to this country, to lock the gates to our hospitals and clinics. Today i stand with my brothers and sisters, people of faith to say when our Justice Department closes the gates together we will push them back open. Let me hear you say it, open the gates. If they punish sanctuary cities then we will open wide the doors of our sanctuaries to welcome those afraid. If they ban Transgender Americans from defending the value of this country then we will defend our values by standing with them in solidarity. Say it with me. Open the gates. If theyre going to send about the devastating destruction in texas, were going to send food and diapers and things for people to build. If theyre going to build walls, we are going to have to lift each other up higher. Open the gates. If they want to teach hate then we are just going to have to love harder. Open the gates. Because of this, we are certain, they are not truly the gate keepers. They are not the ultimate gate keepers. They can try to barricade those gates closed, but we will walk tall and unafraid. And we will keep marching up to those gates and we will push on those gates with our bodies. With our voices, with our words, with our songs and with our prayers and we will open the gates. Arm in arm, we will open the gates and we will walk through the gates into a land of righteousness, into a land of justice. And into a land of love. Together we will open the gates. Gates. [applause] rabbi Hannah Goldstein. Of course, were here on the anniversary of the march on washington. We know the organization that dr. King founded. Lets say it out loud. Nclc. Let lets welcome the president of nclc, dr. Charles steele. Thank you so much. Say amen. I am happy to be here a little under the weather, but i made it anyhow cause god is good. I want to thank reverend al sharpton for bringing us together. Give him a big round of applause. I want to thank him. [applause] i want to thank Martin Luther king iii for being here. Give him a big round of applause. Hes always on the battlefield and in the position that im in, people always ask the question, charles, you all still marching . Well, i was in mississippi three times in the last two months and in march, mississippi, thats what dr. King first in public said to ralph ab ber abernathy. And he said now is the time to go to washington d. C. And campaign 2018. I ask the mayors and other leaders in mississippi, i say 50 years ago roughly almost dr. King was here and i want to ask you a question, has anything changed in 50 years . They said, yes, but its changed for the worst. He said were still poor. We dont have teachers to bring about the educational process for our children. We have no recreation facilities. And as i thought about it, many of us think we have arrived and in case you feel like that, youve got off at the wrong station. You aint there yet. Youve got to get back on the bus. And it was dr. King who said, hate cant drive out hate. Only love can do that. You said it. He also said darkness cant drive out darkness. Only night can do that. But he also said i dont fool with no scared negroes, you cant be afraid in this type of stuff. You know, we have to stay on the field. They said someone is coming after you, well, let them come because you got to die anyhow. Let me die fighting for freedom and justice and equality for all gods children. As a matter of fact i own a funeral home, let my funeral home bury me. Id be remiss if i cant say this, this is my last point. Sclc aint going nowhere, you all. Were here to stay. I am going to say this and go to my steps, i left this morning and it was a ceremony going on at 2 00. People are not going to tell you how powerful you are at the civil rights movement. They think you dont need it anymore, but ladies and gentlemen, let me give you some good news, three years ago sclc demanded to the government and legislature to erect a statue on the Capitol Grounds in the state of georgia, in atlanta, of dr. Martin luther king, jr. Im here to tell you today at 10 00 this morning, while i was here in d. C. , marching with you all, the statue was erected for dr. Martin luther king, jr. In atlanta, georgia at the State Capitol. I see mark coming, but im serving notice, were going to every State Capitol in this country and were going to demand that they erect the same type of statue. Fired up. Fired up. Aint going to take it no more. Reverend dr. Charles steele. Were going to stay with the first name charles here, representing the Michigan State chapter of the National Action network. Please welcome dr. Charles williams as he comes. First of all, let us give our credit and our congratulations to our president , reverend al sharpt sharpton, 5,000 of us. We have im the director of fema public affairs. Thank you all for joining us this morning. Today acting secretary elaine duch, coast guard commandant, and federal Management Agency administrator brock long to give updates on the state and local response efforts. Flo