Downtown Phoenix demonstration honors late civil rights leader John Lewis

The late civil rights pioneer and congressman, John Lewis, was credited by Phoenix demonstrators on Aug. 1 for him paving the way for them being able to assemble like they get to do.

PHOENIX - A demonstration against racial injustice in downtown Phoenix took place on Aug. 1, and as part of the demonstration, they're honoring the late civil rights leader and Congressman, John Lewis.

"Black lives matter. They matter today and every day," said Kenneth Smith, organizer of Saturday's "Unity March."

The march, from cityscape to the state capital, highlighted the importance of black lives, such as Breonna Taylor, the woman shot and killed by police in her Louisville, Kentucky home while she was sleeping in March, or Arizona man Dion Johnson who was killed by a Department of Public Safety trooper in May.

"People are really ready for people to really acknowledge the history and say 'we're sorry and we're ready to move forward' and as you can see, there are people out here in 116 weather to march in solidarity," demonstrator Sarah Tyree said.

Smith says organizers have been working more than just taking on the streets.

"Myself and Black organizers are being elevated into a space to be able to speak to the governor about civil review board and officer accountability in every state and city make sure we leverage the educational component to add in ethic studies and we want to divert funds from police force to a rapid response team to help with homelessness, drug addiction, domestic violence, social workers. We need to put money into those services appropriately," Smith explained.

Organizers said that if it wasn't for late Congressman Lewis, they wouldn't have the platform to do what they did Saturday night.