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March2Justice

Source: Spencer Platt / Getty

The foot soldiers. All day, everyday, foot soldiers.

The people that put their foot to a cause, who commit as soul doers…soldiers. They march by a Higher command, some of hierarchy, some with a touch. They are fighters, strong as one, but powerful united as one. Amongst the crowd their story is told, often dictated from a source of strategy or design. Yet that is OK, because that’s why they come to roost, with a mission in mind.

Whether you’re a foot soldier in protest, or in anarchy, one of authority, or from systematic imprisonment, what you do, which paths you’ll walk, will depend on how you win the war.

Over the years, the smart phone, a communicative device that has opened our eyes to the world, has enabled us to capture the brutality of the policing against men and women of color. Michael Brown; Eric Garner; John Crawford and countless other unarmed African-American males whose young lives were taken unwarranted at the hands of police, are the foot soldiers of the African-American profile that these police were directed to target.

The protests, since each of these deaths, have been loud. But after the cameras have shut off, and the media hasn’t found the sensationalism it needs to report it any longer, who is left to carry the torch to the finish line? To continue through the battles to eventually win the war? The foot soldiers. The young brothers and sisters, the fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, straddled by the strength of women and the power of each man united days ago at 10:30 a.m. from Valley Station, Staten Island, NY to start their March2Justice foot journey from New York to the nation’s capital.

With an engine including activist Harry Belafonte, George Gresham, president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers, Tamika Mallory of Mallory Consulting, and Executive Director of the Justice League of New York, Carmen Perez, the soldiers geared up to march with up to a hundred committed to making the March2Justice journey through various cities and states.

The synergy amongst these groups and organizations gave hope for justice to prevail at the end of its course. George Gresham enthusiastically stated at the end of a rally last week in New Jersey: “We are here, this march … is to protect our people against police violence and brutality and causative effects that lead to that.”

The long-term commitment is an example of how our foot soldiers are continuing the cause to create change in our society’s systematic institutionalized racism through unity and protest. We not only have to address the police officers who are the foot soldiers of a trickle down situation, but go after the institutions that have emerged from those perpetuated racist policy and practices.

And today, as the marchers ended their days-long march through cities and states, the momentum was immense.

We’re so very proud of you all.

– Annette Lang, Manager of Ad Sales Administration for TV One