Local group heads to historic March on Washington, thousands expected
PHILADELPHIA - A local group boarded a bus Thursday to head to the historic March on Washington.
"Enough is enough," said Monique Gaillard to dozens of women boarding a bus in Germantown Thursday afternoon. On Friday, they will join tens of thousands for the historic March on Washington.
"We are making history. We can say what we was doing on this day and tomorrow," said a woman to the crowd. The ladies are part of "Women in Motion" founded by Gaillard who organized the trip to the 57th Anniversary of the March on Washington. This year it’s being called "The Commitment March: Get your knee off our necks".
"I woke crying this morning. Part happy tears and part sad tears because I was so upset that we still have to do this but happy that we're able to do this," said Gaillard. She remembers attending the 40th March on Washington. That was her first time. She was a teenager.
MORE: Black Lives Matter activists to hold Black National Convention, put spotlight on police brutality
"It left such an impact and impression on me," she said. Her mother Lenora Gaillard is going this time, too.
She hopes marching and gathering around the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King made his "I Have a Dream" speech will be special for the young girls also traveling with them.
"I'm hoping they realize that somebody paved the road for them and they, in turn, have to reach back and bring someone else along," she said.
These teens have strong feelings about blacks dying at the hands of police.
Trinity Medine says she’s outraged. “I feel like that can happen to anybody's brother or relative and you wouldn't like how that feels so don't do that to nobody else," she said.
Modestee Fortune said, “I hope it makes a difference. I hope everyone gets along." And 14-year-old Jayla Holland-Hall added, “The purpose of me going on this march is to get up and personal with everything that's been going on instead of just watching and not doing anything."
Gaillard says the goal is to continue the fight for racial equality and justice.
"Now we have to add Jacob Blake, we had George Floyd, let’s go all the way back to my soror Sandra Bland, let's go all the way back to Emmet Till. I'm tired of saying names so I had to do something,” she said.
The families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner are among those expected to lead the march tomorrow.
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