WASHINGTON (7News) -- Civil Rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton gave a sermon at Howard University's historic Rankin Chapel on Sunday morning, marking the 62nd anniversary of the March on Washington and setting the stage for the upcoming March on Wall Street.
Sharpton, the founder and president of the National Action Network (NAN), addressed the state of civil rights in America and the federal government's ongoing takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department.
"Mayor Bowser is under attack for being a Black woman who has done the job voters have entrusted her with for over a decade," Sharpton said in a statement. "Donald Trump has made her leadership collateral damage in his unprecedented takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, which is nothing more than a distraction from the fallout over the Epstein files."
Sharpton's sermon comes as National Guard troops continue patrolling D.C. after President Trump ordered the Department of Justice to assume control of the city's police force. The administration has claimed rising crime as justification, though city data reportedly show violent crime is down 25% compared to last year.
During his speech on Sunday, Sharpton said the federal police surge in D.C. is not about crime; it is about profiling Blacks. "If we're afraid to stand up, then we are not deserving of those that stood up and gave their lives so we could live a better life than they did," said Sharpton.
Sharpton also criticized Trump for only targeting specific cities with the idea of federal intervention. "And to see this racial profiling of mayors, Washington D.C., Chicago, LA, Oakland, and New York, all Black mayors. So, white mayors don't have crime?" said Sharpton. "In fact, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson; his home district has a high crime rate in Washington, D.C. Why don't you send some Guards there?"
Sunday's sermon called on supporters to rally behind D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser and other leaders facing federal pressure. Following his speech, Sharpton met with local leaders to show support for the District's mayor.
Sharpton has a tradition of speaking at HU near the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. Two years ago, he preached at the chapel the day after NAN organized the 60th anniversary march with Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King.
"We decided this year not to come to Washington, about three months ago. We said the real people that are deferring the dream are on Wall Street," Rev. Sharpton said during his sermon on Sunday. "They're the ones that got the tax cut. When Trump was in the first time, he gave a tax cut to the rich in 2017. When Biden and Harris came in, they restored it back until Trump cut it back again. They're the ones that finance the drives against DEI. They're the ones that are financing the moves for redistricting, to rob us of our rights to vote in representation. So rather than come to Washington, we're going to Wall Street this year where they do business."
The March on Wall Street is scheduled for August 28 in New York, where NAN and its partners will focus on preserving diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the face of federal rollbacks and corporate pressure.