Justice March 2015 brought thousands to the "justice or else"-themed rally held Saturday at the National Mall in Washington, according to CNN. The event was organized by the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who reflected on the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March from 1995 and brought awareness to the current social issues facing the black community today.
Farrakhan discussed the Black Lives Matter movement, which he referred to as the future leaders and of the digital age. Whereas the Million Man March was mostly men, this rally was full of women and children as well.
"We who are getting older... what good are we if we don't prepare young people to carry that torch of liberation to the next step? What good are we if we think we can last forever and not prepare others to walk in our footsteps?" Farrakhan said.
Farrakhan spoke about a government that he feels cannot adequately protect and provide for all, especially the lower classes.
"There's no government on this earth, not one, that can give the people what the people desire of freedom, justice and equality," he said. "You are yearning for something the government can't give you."
"The demand for justice demands integrity," Farrakhan said, The New York Times reported. "The demand for justice demands selflessness. The demand for justice is bigger than all our lives, so the demand for justice must give us the will to wish to sacrifice our lives, because the many are greater than the one."
Civil rights leader Benjamin Chavis, who attended the first march, spoke of the positive changes in the last 20 years.
"But you and I know we've got a lot more progress to make," Chavis said. "There's too much injustice, too much inequality, too much mass incarceration ... too (many) situations in our community that need addressing, and that's why we're here today."
In the crowd was an Atlanta Justice Department worker, Shon Terrell, who pointed toward the Washington Monument to give his accompanying friends an example of how big the crowd was in 1995.
"You could feel the energy," Terrell recalled, according to The Washington Post. "Twenty years later, I had to come. I was compelled again. It's part of me."
