Clergy from various faiths participate in the Thousand Ministers March for Justice on Aug. 28, 2017, in Washington, D.C.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RELIGION NEWS SERVICE

By ADELLE M. BANKS

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON — From Protestant preachers to Jewish cantors to Catholic nuns, religious leaders of a range of faiths demonstrated in the nation’s capital for racial justice, criticizing the silence of some within their own ranks on the subject of white supremacy and questioning the morality of Trump administration policies.

Wearing stoles, robes and yarmulkes, the participants proceeded Monday (Aug. 28) on a 1.7-mile route from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to the Justice Department. Organizers estimated close to 3,000 ministers took part, a larger turnout than suggested by the title of the event: “One Thousand Ministers March for Justice.”

“We wanted to say this nation is in moral trouble,” the Rev. Al Sharpton told those assembled at the King memorial.

One protester carried a sign saying “Repeal and Replace Trump Pence,” a reference to the efforts to halt the Affordable Care Act signed into law during the Obama administration. Another’s sign said “Black Lives Matter To This Rabbi.”

The march was originally planned to protest increased hate crimes, mass incarceration and discrimination and to call on the Trump administration and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to address those issues.

But the recent violence in Charlottesville, Va., where neo-Nazi, white supremacist and white nationalist protesters clashed with anti-racism activists, prompted increased interest in the gathering.

Sister Patricia Chappell, executive director of Pax Christi USA, decried white supremacy but said, as a black Catholic nun, she believes “even our institutional church is racist” and needs to address some of its policies and practices.

Sharpton’s National Action Network spearheaded the march on the 54th anniversary of the March on Washington. Many of the people — from Buddhists to Baptists — had planned to be at the march before the Charlottesville events spurred more to join them.

Some speakers ticked off a number of other issues that concern them, such as criminal justice, voter suppression and health care reform.

“You’re going to see the victims of Nazism, the victims of white supremacy march today to the Justice Department,” Sharpton said just before leading the march through downtown Washington. “And say we don’t care what party’s in. We are not going to be out.”