Thousands of protesters marched across the country today—past the White House in the nation's capital, along iconic Fifth Avenue in New York, and in the middle of Nashville's honky-tonk district—to call attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police and urge lawmakers to take action. Chanting "I can't breathe," ''Hands up, don't shoot," and waving signs reading "Black lives matter," the demonstrators also staged "die-ins" as they lay down across intersections. "My husband was a quiet man, but he's making a lot of noise right now," said protest marcher Esaw Garner, widow of Eric Garner, at the Justice for All rally in Washington. "I have five children in this world and we are fighting not just for him but for everybody's future, for everybody's past, for everybody's present."
Organizers had predicted 5,000 people at the Washington march, but the crowd appeared to far outnumber that. The organizers later said they believed as many as 25,000 had shown up. Joining the Garners in Washington were speakers from the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old killed in Ohio as he played with a pellet gun in a park, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize the marches. Among the large crowds on New York's Fifth Avenue were family members of people killed by New York City police going back decades. Donna Carter, 54, marched with her boyfriend, whose teenage son was shot and killed by police in the 1990s while carrying a toy gun. "It's good to see people of all colors here to say enough is enough," said Carter. (More protests stories.)