The words of civil rights movements past were resurrected Sunday evening in Washington Square Park in the Faubourg Marigny, where about 200 people gathered to protest the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, and to share stories of personal disappointments with the justice system.
The loosely organized gathering, which originated in what participants described as a "firestorm of text messages," began with a communal song once sung by slaves.
"This song comes from enslaved people and it says: 'Lord, Lord, I've got a right, I've got a right to the tree of life,'" New Orleans community activist Wendi O'Neal told the crowd.