Donald Trump

Demonstrators from Charlottesville Arrive in DC After 100+ Mile March Against White Supremacy

Organizers include the Women's March and the Movement for Black Lives

Members of a multi-racial coalition of faith, student and community activists from Charlottesville, Virginia, arrived in D.C. Wednesday after a march in response to what they call President Donald Trump's failure to confront the white supremacy on display at a violent rally in the Virginia city earlier this month.

The March to Confront White Supremacy arrived at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial about 4 p.m.after a 10-day, more than 110 mile walk.

"I was there last month when the Nazis and the White Supremacists were marching through my hometown," Ben Doernberg, who marched with the group, told News4's Erika Gonzalez. "You reach a point where you say, okay, this has to stop."

Demonstrators continued on to McPherson Square, where they set up tents. 

Tania Maduro, a protester, said the marchers plan to stay in the park until the March for Racial Justice. According to the Facebook event, that march will take place on Sept. 30.

A group of over 100 people -- many wearing rain gear -- left Jefferson, Virginia Wednesday morning, organizers said on Twitter.

More people joined at a rally at Gateway Park in Arlington before the group crossed Key Bridge and continued to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall.

Since the march began on Monday, Aug. 28, participants walked up to 17 miles per day and slept in churches along the route. The march passed through Ruckersville, Culpeper, Manassas, Fairfax and Falls Church, an online timeline said.

"We are marching from Charlottesville to Washington, D.C. to demonstrate our commitment to confronting white supremacy wherever it is found," the website for the march says. "It's clear that we can no longer wait for Donald Trump or any elected official to face reality and lead. We are coming together to reckon with America's long history of white supremacy, so that we can begin to heal the wounds of our nation."

Organizers say white supremacist violence, rhetoric and policies have intensified since Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and must be confronted. They say they want a political agenda "that repairs the damage done" by the legacy of white supremacy in America.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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