WASHINGTON—Thousands of people are expected to march in the nation’s capital to protest police brutality against Black Americans, a demonstration planned earlier this summer in the wake of George Floyd’s death that has gained new urgency after this week’s police shooting of Jacob Blake.
The program for Friday’s march includes remarks from the family of Mr. Floyd, a Black man who died while in the custody of Minneapolis police after an officer held his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. The father of Mr. Blake, a Black resident of Kenosha, Wis., who was shot multiple times in the back by police Sunday evening, is also expected to speak at the event. Titled “Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks,” it is being organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and his civil-rights organization, the National Action Network.
Video shared on social media Sunday appeared to show Mr. Blake being shot multiple times in the back by police. An officer can be heard screaming, “Drop the knife,” but it isn’t clear from the video whether Mr. Blake, who is hospitalized, was holding anything.
The shooting spurred protests and violence in Kenosha that evening and on subsequent nights, which spread to other U.S. cities. On Tuesday night two people were killed and another injured by gunfire in the city just north of the state line with Illinois, where a suspect in those shootings was arrested Wednesday.
The elder Mr. Blake had planned on attending the event before his son was shot by police, according to Mr. Sharpton. “He said he was coming anyway, and then this happened. I told him to come on and I would like for him to speak,” the civil-rights activist said in an interview. “He wants to say to the nation what they did to his son.”
Mr. Sharpton said he thought earlier this summer that the coronavirus pandemic would subside by August and saw the potential for 100,000 to descend on Washington. He said he now anticipates several thousand or perhaps tens of thousands. The march’s protocols for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, include thermometer checks and distributing masks.
The district’s Metropolitan Police Department said streets would be closed along the march’s planned route near the National Mall and in some surrounding areas downtown. A police spokesman said the D.C. National Guard would be assisting police but declined to say more about what safety measures would be in place.
Some people are coming to Washington on buses organized by local activists and the National Action Network, including from Philadelphia and New York. Some of those buses have been canceled because of virus concerns, cutting the probable turnout.
Keith Wilson, a travel agent in Columbus, Ohio, said he had organized three buses to Washington for the march but canceled them last week, citing virus concerns.
“With an eight-hour trip from Columbus to D.C., we just decided it wasn’t a very good situation for us to be in,” Mr. Wilson said, adding that he knew of only a few of the 90 people registered to take his buses who decided to make the trek on their own.
Satellite demonstrations are planned across the country Friday, including outside the state offices of Republican Sens. Marco Rubio in Florida and Lindsey Graham in South Carolina.
Mr. Sharpton said the goal is to use the Friday march to increase pressure on the GOP-controlled Senate to pick up two pieces of legislation that have cleared the Democratic-run House: The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would make it easier to prosecute police officers for misconduct; and a new version of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that dictated federal oversight of state election law, a central provision that was struck down by the Supreme Court.
After Mr. Floyd’s death, both parties in Congress agreed that an overhaul of police laws was needed. But disagreements over the role of the federal government and how much legal protection police officers should retain quickly undermined that early consensus.
Mr. Sharpton said he would urge advocates Friday to not be dispirited after seeing federal legislation stalled. “The moment is pregnant for change,” he said, citing shifting sentiment among Americans for the Black Lives Matter movement. “We cannot drop the ball.”
Antonio Mingo of Washington, a 30-year-old warehouse worker who has helped organize demonstrations with Black Lives Matter DC, said he would attend the march but has grown frustrated that Congress hasn’t acted. “Spiritually, I’m tired,” he said, adding that the shooting of Mr. Blake has left him wondering if there will ever be nationwide police reform.
“Something’s really got to be done. It’s got to be more now than just marches,” he said.
Demonstrators are scheduled to gather before noon near the Lincoln Memorial at the eastern end of the National Mall, where speakers including Martin Luther King III and civil-rights attorney Benjamin Crump will address the crowd. Representatives of the families of Mr. Floyd and Mr. Blake, as well as those of Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner, who were also killed by police, are expected to give remarks before the march proceeds about a half-mile to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
After that, it isn’t clear if demonstrators will dissipate or stay into the evening. “It’s all off of the moment, the feeling,” Mr. Mingo said. “I’ll go all night if I need to.”
Write to Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com
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