Caravan For Justice: Seattle to DC

On August 28th 2020, The National Action Network  is organizing Commitment : Get Your Knee Off Our Necks, a march and rally in DC co-convened by the Reverend Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III demonstrating advocacy for comprehensive police accountability reform, the Census, and mobilizing voters for the November election.

From the National Action Network website:
"Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks, Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC. Instigated from the protest movement that has risen up since the police killing of George Floyd, the 'Get Off Our Necks' March on Washington will be a day of action that will demonstrate our commitment to fighting for policing and criminal justice. The Commitment March will take place on August 28th 2020 - the 57th anniversary of the historical March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech."

This will be the largest single demonstration for civil rights, social equality and justice in our lifetimes.. and possibly in the history of the United States of America.

As Americans from Seattle, Washington, we feel driven to make our way to DC and represent our City at this event. We will leave Seattle in a convoy on Thursday, August 20th, making rally stops along our route where we will present speeches, facilitate voter registration, and live stream to build awareness of the March, support the Black Lives Matter movement, connect with local communities and activists, and draw attention to historical activist movements, massacres and strikes  along our route from the Civil Rights Movement, Labor Movement, and the struggles of Native American Nations.

We are asking for donations to help fund this Caravan For Justice, from Seattle to DC!

Funding for the Caravan is needed for gasoline primarily, with some food and camping costs and some small expenditures on steel and streaming hotspot infrastructure.

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Caravan For Justice: Seattle to DC Statement of Intent:

America has two histories: textbooks speak of the "discovery" of a "new world" and the "manifest destiny" to expand and conquer from East coast to West; Native Americans' ancestors experienced a different story: disease, war, internment, forced migration, and massacres; Black Americans' ancestors were brought here in chains to be bought, sold, raped and killed at a whim; immigrants from around the world came here lured by the promise of freedom and opportunity, only to find racism, violence, and oppression. Today these historical issues continue to divide and alienate Americans from each other; our country continues to oppress, incarcerate, and deny opportunities to Black and Native Americans; immigrants are still drawn here, but our government steals children from their parents and denies help to those oppressed abroad.  

Seattle, Washington also exists on two levels: defined as much by its booming tech and aerospace industries as by its systemic and institutionalized racism, gentrification, and a growing homelessness crisis, Seattle sees some flourish while many more suffer. Once a beacon of progressive thought and a safe refuge for a large LGBTQIA+ community, Seattle has grown into a walled garden, with many more living in poverty and fear on the outside than in the towers of tech and industry within. Our City, our State, and our Country do not seem to know how to address these issues, and the Covid-19 outbreak has only deepened the divide in Seattle and nation-wide. We, the Caravaneers of the Caravan For Justice: Seattle to DC, as Seattlites and Americans, cannot sit back and watch our City and our Nation continue to oppress and murder BIPOC Seattlites and Americans; we demand change!

The Caravan For Justice will travel from Seattle to Washington, DC to join in Commitment: Get Your Knee Off Our Knecks, a rally and march on August 28th 2020, co-convened by the Reverend Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, the National Action Network, and the families of George Floyd and many other victims of police brutality. The Commitment rally and march is in support of comprehensive police accountability reform, the Census, and mobilizing voters for the November elections.

As we travel to DC, the Caravan will present live-streamed speeches and rallies in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, against police brutality, and in support of Native American Nations; we will rally near current and historic flashpoints in the Civil Rights Movement, the Labor Movement, and Native American Nations' struggles. Our Caravaneers cover the spectrum of diversity: BIPOC and white, we are recent immigrants, descendants of Black slaves, people of Native American descent, Americans with forgotten lineages, and people with familial Civil War brother-on-brother history; we represent many different shades of the beautiful LGBTQIA+ rainbow, and we are working together for progress!

Locally, we call for Seattle to ban all Crowd Control Weapon use by the Seattle Police Department, free all protesters, defund the SPD by at least 50% with funding transferred to programs for BIPOC-community school districts, housing and economic assistance, and create housing for unhomed individuals while providing harm-reduction treatment for the mentally ill and addicted! We call for Washington State to sever all ties with the Police Union and end its regressive tax code! We call for the US Government to demilitarize local and state police forces and ban their use of Crowd Control Weapons, end qualified immunity, fund BIPOC-community school districts, housing, and economic assistance programs, recognize Native American Nations' rights and honor all Treaties, pay reparations to Black Americans, and restructure the tax code to build up the least of us instead of enriching the elite. As we travel in our Caravan For Justice, We will build support for all of these demands, and grow connections with activists and Americans across the United States, from Seattle to DC!
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If you are interested in joining the Caravan, finding out more information, donating equipment or have skills to offer, please contact us at:

[email redacted]

Venmo: @SEAtoDC
Cashapp: cash.app/$SEAtoDC
PayPal: paypay.me/SEAtoDC

Thank you for your generosity and support of our efforts to fight for racial equality and justice, police reform, and political change in this country.

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Black Lives Matter
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