MLK Day dawns in Philly as a day of service and protest
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
We'll be covering the protest march this afternoon. Come back for our reports in words and photos.
A protester holds aloft a sign at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of his dreams for a nation that had broken the bonds of race.
Yesterday's constant and cold rains have stopped, and the weather in Philly on this Martin Luther King Day is supposed to be dry and almost a balmy 41 degrees this afternoon when protesters step off at 1:30 p.m. from the School District Headquarters at 440 N. Broad St. for the march to Independence Mall. About 70 groups, many of them fueled by anger over the deaths of unarmed Black men in Ferguson, Mo,, and on Staten Island, economic inequality and the conditions in the Philly public schools, have joined together to organize the march. Some 10,000 people are expected to participate. And, once again, more than 100,000 people are planning to spend today, a national holiday, by giving back to their communities.
City Paper is planning coverage of the protest. Come back later this afternoon for our on-the-ground reports.
For an overview of policing problems in Philadelphia see our report, "Why Philly can't breathe either." And for a look at the effect of the funding crisis in the classroom, read this Teachers Anonymous essay.
