Bellingham march in support of national call for policing and criminal justice
A Bellingham march is planned for Thursday, Aug. 27, in solidarity with the Get Off Our Necks Commitment March fighting for policing and criminal justice on Friday, Aug. 28, in Washington, D.C.
The national march is on the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.
The Bellingham march is from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday and starts at the Cornwall Rose Garden on the corner of East Illinois Street and Cornwall Avenue.
“We will leave our footprint on a formerly Klan-occupied space to march to the seat of some of the greatest social injustices facing our local BIPOC community — our Whatcom County District Court and Whatcom County Jail. Because if we do not understand the ripples of the impact of our history, we cannot hope to change our future,” according to a statement at the event’s page on Facebook.
Organizers’ Facebook page said the kickoff site for the local march was chosen because a 1926 KKK parade started from that location, according to the Bellingham Racial History Timeline at Western Washington University.
“Get Off Our Necks” is a reference to George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed May 25 by Minneapolis police.
His death sparked nationwide protests, rallies and marches by Black Lives Matter and other groups seeking social justice reforms aimed at dismantling systemic racism in the U.S.
Sponsors include the Whatcom Human Rights Task Force and MissionAccomplished?
