Hundreds of people congregated around the north face of the White House Thursday evening to protest the fatal police shootings of two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Led by Deondre Moore, a junior at Sam Houston State University, the protestors marched a clear path down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, chanting and singing “We Shall Overcome” as they passed.
“We can’t just protest, we have to unify,” Moore said.
Demonstrators were met on the steps of the Capitol by a blockade of 20 policemen and women, who prevented the marchers from entering the building itself.
Around 9:30 p.m., 13 members of Congress, including civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., came out to speak to the protestors behind the blockade. They urged for peace and pursuing democratic policies over violence, although the crowd often interrupted them with cries for accountability.
Shouts of “do your job” and “we want answers” cut through the speeches, making them almost incomprehensible to most of the people in the crowd.
Finally, the members of Congress pushed through the blockade to join the crowd and walk with them back to the White House, where they stayed and spoke to the protestors one-on-one.
“[I felt] empowered, elated, inflamed,” said Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill. “Ain’t nothing like the power of the youth because the power of the youth don’t stop.”
A bullhorn was also passed around the crowd so people could share their personal testimonies, thoughts and suggestions for the future. Members of the crowd also shared feelings of weariness with the status quo over the volume and frequency of police violence against the black community.
Many of the demonstrators in the crowd had their own personal experiences that inspired them to join the protest.
Sherri Joyner, a legal assistant in D.C., recounted how she was arrested and shoved into a van after a domestic incident in 2009, despite her repeated pleas that she was claustrophobic. Her screams to be released went unheard, and when she was finally allowed out of the van the policemen told her if she ran they would shoot.
“That’s a mentality that has been born and bred,” said Joyner. “I don’t think its every officer, but it’s something that is brewing and boiling over.”
