Overview

• Thousands marched through Lower Manhattan on Aug. 28, starting at the African Burial Ground, passing the Charging Bull, and rallying on Whitehall Street on the 62nd anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.
• Rev. Al Sharpton called DEI the civil rights fight of this generation and pressed corporate leaders to resist White House pressure to scale back workplace diversity programs.
• The National Action Network promoted consumer boycotts of companies that reversed DEI efforts and encouraged support for firms that kept commitments, citing Costco as a model.
• The demonstration targeted President Trump’s rollback of DEI and highlighted broader economic-justice concerns, with speakers criticizing corporate gains alongside cuts to social safety-net programs.
• Martin Luther King III joined clergy, labor and community leaders, while mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani addressed the crowd after Sharpton noted that invited rivals, including Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo, did not appear.