The Rev. Al Sharpton, who led Monday's rally, said he had called for 1,000 leaders from various faiths to join him but that more than 3,000 registered. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Religious leaders march in protest of Trump and racism

Several thousand religious leaders rallied next to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington on Monday and marched to the Department of Justice to protest both the Trump administration and displays of racism at the recent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Organizers dubbed the march, which coincided with the 54th anniversary of King’s March on Washington, “One Thousand Ministers March for Justice.” The Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist and liberal commentator who led the rally, said he had called for 1,000 leaders from various faiths to join him but that more than 3,000 registered.


In remarks before the group took to the street to march, Christian ministers, Jewish rabbis and other religious figures framed the event as a statement against white supremacy and a call for people of faith to combat racism and fight for social justice causes such as voting rights, criminal justice reform and health care access.

Sharpton, in a short speech before the march kicked off, declared the country in “moral trouble” and argued that faith leaders have an obligation to speak out.

“We wanted 1,000 rabbis, sikhs, imams, Christian ministers of all denominations, because we wanted to say this nation is in moral trouble,” Sharpton said. “It’s immoral to try to take the vote from people that blacks and Jews and other people suffered and died for. It’s immoral to try and take health care from your mama because you don’t like Obama. It’s immoral to try and give a tax cut to the rich while we need infrastructure and jobs.”

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“It’s time for moral leaders of all religions to get rid of their fear and … speak up and stand up and stand up together,” he continued. “I want the media to see this crowd of rabbis and priests and preachers. And we may not agree on every local issue, but we agree on a universal issue, and that is morality must be above party politics.”

Not every speaker singled out President Donald Trump specifically, but many did — bemoaning both his administration’s policies (and those of Attorney General Jeff Sessions) and his response to the violence in Charlottesville.

The president has been widely condemned for suggesting that some “very fine people” were marching alongside white supremacists and neo-Nazis at the Charlottesville protest, where a woman was killed in a car attack.

“My God, why can’t you speak out against the KKK?” pleaded the Rev. Leslie Copeland-Tune of the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative.

To the proposed Trump budget, which includes cuts to many federal programs, Copeland-Tune said: “I don’t just want to say no — I want to say, ‘hell no.’ We refuse to go back.”

Several speakers lamented Trump’s recent decision to pardon Joe Arpaio, the Arizona county sheriff who was convicted of criminal contempt after he was alleged to have racially profiled Latinos and immigrants. Some speakers also criticized evangelical Christian leaders, many of whom support Trump.

Debbie Amster, 62, of Maryland came to the march with a group from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She said she felt the need to “speak out, not just on Facebook” against what she views as the “racist, misogynistic, sexist” remarks and actions of the administration.

The Trump administration’s actions, she said, are “so egregious that they require standing up.”

“And people of faith have a particular obligation,” she added.

Several prominent civil rights leaders, including King’s son Martin Luther King III, attended.