“We all needed to be here today so we can stand up and stop this.”

Hundreds of 1199SEIU members from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C and Maryland were among the nearly 10,000 people who marched in the nation’s capital on Saturday, December 13th demanding an end to police violence and the unjust treatment of people of color and the poor at the hands of the country’s law enforcement officials.

“I want to be here and make sure that police stop shooting Black people and any other kind of people. There are other things that can be done besides shooting people,” said Adriane Franklin, a home attendant with New York City’s CABS agency for 30 years. “We all needed to be here today so we can stand up and stop this.”

The killings of Michael Brown, Jr. in Ferguson, MO. and Eric Garner, in New York City by police officers have sparked a passionate and diverse movement in response to the longstanding police brutality, racial profiling and unequal treatment at the hands of police suffered by people of color.

The National Action Network organized the December 13th march, known as the National March Against Police Violence. It began with a rally at the Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C. and proceeded down Pennsylvania Avenue to a rally site, with the Capitol Building as a backdrop.

Rev. Al Sharpton and the families of Eric Garner, Michael Brown Jr., Tamir Rice and other victims of police violence led the procession. Chants of “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!” and “I Can’t Breathe!” ringing out over choruses of “No Justice! No Peace!”

Speakers at the rally included Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Joshua Williams, one of the protest leaders from Ferguson.

In his remarks Rev. Sharpton expressed gratitude and pride in the breadth and diversity of the crowd. He challenged naysayers to look upon those gathered and call the demand for justice a special interest.

“I was inspired the day I came to Washington and saw a Black man put his hand on the Bible and become President of the United States,” said Sharpton. “I’m also inspired here today when I see white kids holding signs that say, ‘Black Lives Matter’.”

Sharpton also enumerated changes vital to the pursuit of justice: the creation in the U.S. Department of Justice to handle cases of police violence, an examination of the legal thresholds between criminal and civil rights violations in cases of police violence, and special independent prosecutors to handle cases involving police police violence and brutality.

The families of the victims also spoke, many who thanked the crowd for their support and urged them to continue the fight. Sabryna Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin who encouraged everyone to get and stay involved in the fight - and most important to educate those who may not understand the struggle or who don’t understand the experience of racial profiling.

Anthony Nicholas, a drug counselor from Mt. Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan was moved by the crowd’s passion and diversity.

“It was a great day. The energy was wonderful. Everyone was together,” he said. “The young people and families. You could really feel that people want this to change.”