Demonstrators in a “March on Wall Street” Thursday known as on company America to push again in opposition to President Trump’s assault on range initiatives.
Carrying indicators that mentioned, “Stop Stealing Our Legacy,” protesters, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, took their monetary battle to the seat of the nation’s financial energy base.
“We come to Wall Street rather than Washington this year to let them know: you can try to turn back the clock, but you can’t turn back time,” Sharpton mentioned as he kicked off the demonstration commemorating 1963’s historic March on Washington.
“We’re going to keep the dream alive on Wall Street.”
An individual holds an indication protesting President Donald Trump as demonstrators take part in a “March on Wall Street” to name for financial justice on August 28, 2025, in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by ANGELA WEISS/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Sharpton’s “dream” reference was a nod to the enduring “I Have a Dream” speech Martin Luther King Jr. delivered to 250,000 individuals 62 years in the past on Aug. 28 on the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.
Though the Wall Avenue crowd was significantly smaller, audio system, together with King’s oldest son, touched on a number of the identical themes, noting the battles gained since then, and the financial fights that proceed at present.
“It’s extraordinarily significant, but in the back of mind, I am thinking about how sad this is, that 62 years after dad delivered that dream for our nation and world, that we are in the position we are in,” Martin Luther King III mentioned. “And the goal is to find ways to move this nation forward around economic inequality.”
Martin Luther King III speaks throughout a “March on Wall Street” to name for financial justice on August 28, 2025, in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by ANGELA WEISS/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
On the prime of the march’s agenda was Trump’s marketing campaign in opposition to range, fairness and inclusion, a campaign marked by financial punishments in opposition to school campuses and corporations that spotlight race.
The marchers additionally criticized the White Home for taking up the District of Columbia police division, and threatening related actions in opposition to main city hubs, together with New York Metropolis.
“Donald Trump’s attacks on DEI were only the prelude, as he is now dangling threats to take over American cities led by Black mayors,” mentioned Sharpton, founder and president of the Nationwide Motion Community. “If we leave him unchecked on DEI, if we do not get out and march, if we do not speak up, he will completely erase the freedoms our parents and our grandparents fought, bled and died for.”
New York Metropolis mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, left, speaks as Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the Nationwide Motion Community, appears on throughout a “March on Wall Street” to name for financial justice on Aug. 28, 2025, in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by ANGELA WEISS/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Stops alongside the march included the Decrease Manhattan African Burial Floor — the most important recognized resting place of enslaved and freed Africans — and 26 Federal Plaza, the place ICE brokers have rampantly arrested migrants throughout appearances earlier than immigration courts.
Invited audio system included mayoral candidates Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Adams, however solely Mamdani appeared on the podium on the finish of the march to talk to the group.
