Across the U.S., a Moment of Silence for Ferguson

In cities all across the nation—from Portland, Maine to Carson City, Nevada—community organizers assembled demonstrations for a National Moment of Silence (#NMOS) Thursday night. An incomplete list put out by Ebony lists nearly 90 participating cities. Some of the events drew hundreds of people, who gathered to chant, sing, pray, march, and most definitely Instagram in solidarity with Michael Brown and other victims of discrimination and injustice.

In my city, Washington, D.C., hundreds of community members met in Malcolm X Park. From there they marched down U Street NW, the historic black cultural corridor that is the face of gentrification in Washington today. Maybe 500 people marched together, carrying signs about the August 9 shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. They marched through the intersection of 14th Street and U, the site of the largest spontaneous party I have ever witnessed, the night of President Barack Obama's first election victory. They marched down to 7th, past the cell-phone shop that plays go-go too loud, turning not toward Howard University as I had heard they intended but toward Chinatown, the commercial heart of the city.