Rev. Al Sharpton Leads "March On Hate Crimes" In Washington, DC

Washington, DC (AHN)-U.S. civil rights leaders rallied outside the Justice Department in Washington, DC, on Friday for what activists are calling the department's failure to crack down on hate crimes around the country.

Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network is leading Friday's "March on Hate Crimes" in the nation's capital, a five-block walk from Freedom Plaza to the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building. The demonstrators then plan to march around the Justice Department building seven times to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the federal government's response to a slew of racially tense incidents, sparked by the so-called "Jena 6" case in Jena, Louisiana.

Racial tensions were sparked when nooses were hung from a schoolyard tree at a high school in Jena, Louisiana, and authorities did not prosecute the white teens responsible for the crime. The situation further intensified when six black classmates were charged with allegedly beating a white student in December, and were given stiff sentences for their involvement. About 15,000 to 20,000 protesters, including Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, descended on the small town of Jena two months ago to protest the disparity in treatment for white and black students.

Rev. Sharpton, who led the gathering in DC on Friday, said the march was necessary because situations similar to what happened in Jena appear throughout the nation.

"There's Jenas everywhere," Sharpton explained, "Which is why you saw thousands of us come to Jena and why you see thousands of us come now.

"No one has the ability to get people to come on a cold day like this if people weren't feeling that they have been disenfranchised and been treated unfairly. Clearly, Jena resonates because people are familiar with the Jenas in their areas," Sharpton said.