On a cold Martin Luther King Jr. Day morning in New York, over a hundred individuals spilled out of Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn and onto the Brooklyn Bridge to honour the legacy of Dr King, but shortly it turned into a noticeable opposition to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
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The march was organised by the Arc of Justice and attracted an unusual number of people on a weekday. People wrapped themselves against the winter cold, carrying signs and banners, chanting and urgently talking about the issue that has brought a piercing conscience to the whole nation.
Speakers at Cadman Plaza reminded the group that MLK Day should be more than a day off work; it should be a day of reflection on the persistent structural and systemic struggles that stretch back decades.
March honours Renee Good, killed by ICE
Notably, the name that echoed through the march was Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman shot and killed by an ICE agent earlier this month. Good's death has become a rallying cry for activists and civil rights advocates across the country.
Following the rally, the crowd began their journey across the Brooklyn Bridge. News helicopters hovered overhead as the marchers crossed the East River.
At one point, the group paused to walk a lap around 26 Federal Plaza, home to ICE's New York City headquarters. The march then continued toward Foley Square.
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Organiser Minister Kirsten John Foy of the Arc of Justice told CBS News, "Dr. King was known for leading marches, peaceful marches, in the name of humanity, in the name of juxtaposing peace to violence, juxtaposing democracy to tyranny, and that's what this march is about today. We've got to juxtapose the cold and the commitment of the people of the city against the greed of executives and against the bloodthirst of ICE."
