Martin Luther King's eldest son warns of great challenges in US

'We are marching to overcome what my father called the Triple Evils of poverty, racism and violence. And today, those evils have exacerbated four great challenges facing our country today,' King III told a crowd gathered before the Lincoln Memorial.

One of those challenges, the activist described, is the Covid-19 pandemic, about which he noted that 'it has tragically killed over 175,000 Americans,' and that it disproportionately affects black and Latino communities.

He also referred to the issue of unemployment, when over 30 million Americans are jobless, something that affects more black people, adding that the health crisis has highlighted inequalities in the economy 'that keep too many people trapped in debt and poverty.'

King III also mentioned police brutality and violence with firearms, and remembered that the mobilization on Friday includes families of Afro-Americans who were killed by the police, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner.

The fourth challenge to which he alluded was the right to vote, and he urged the participants to defend it, as it was something that was achieved 'with the blood of those lynched for trying to exercise their constitutional rights.'

The leader also called on those present to vote in the elections next November as if our lives and our livelihoods, our freedoms depended on it, because they do.