Most of the protesters were black in Saturday's nation-wide demonstrations against the acquittal of the killer of an unarmed black teenager in Florida. The US African-American community is particularly impacted by the killing of Trayvon Martin and the trial of George Zimmerman last week. "It could have been my son," said Lisa Smith, 37, who was carrying her 3-year-old boy on her shoulders.
Smith joined hundreds of people in Miami and thousands around the country to brave a heat wave to join the rallies to demand that Zimmerman face federal civil rights charges.
"Trayvon was no burglar. He had a drink and some candy," Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, told the New York rally.
"He had every right to walk within that community to go back to the house where he came from," Fulton said of the February 2012 shooting by Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida.
"Those are the facts that we need to stand on because today it was my son, tomorrow it might be yours," she said.
Zimmerman's acquittal on all charges was met with widespread outrage in the African-American community, sparking a national debate over the role that racial profiling may have played in the 17-year-old's death.
Even Barack Obama, the nation's first black president, weighed in on Friday, saying that Martin could have been him "35 years ago," and recalling the discrimination that has followed him in life - being shadowed in a department store or hearing car doors lock as he walked by.
"Racism still exists," Smith told dpa. "It's a shame you have to be afraid to walk around and not feel safe, they make you feel like a stereotype."
Joan, 48, one of the few white people at the Miami protest, said she understands discrimination because she is gay, and people "look at you different."
"If I was walking in Sanford, in Goerge Zimmerman's neighbourhood, he would have looked at me and walked away," she said.
Her wife Ines, who comes from Cuba, said her first emotion was anger, then sadness "that I live in a country, in a state, that allows this to happen. He was a murderer and they let him get away."
Ines, who is black, said she feels the racism when she enters a store. "They think I'm gonna steal something ... and they say (in Spanish): 'Follow the black woman.' Yes, you feel it all the time."
Protesters carried signs saying "No justice, no peace," "We shall not forget" and "Creepy Ass Crackers," the last a reference to Martin's phone call to a friend in which he expressed worry about being stalked by a white man - or "cracker."
Another sign said "Why hoodie doesn't make me a criminal" - a reference to the hooded sweatshirt Martin was wearing.
"I was hurt, mad, frustrated, the verdict confused me," said Jonas, 27. "I feel like he is my own brother."
Martin's father Tracy joined the Miami demonstration and said the death of his son "has to make changes in our society and repeal the laws that allow killing somebody just because someone thinks (he or she) is suspect."
Martin's parents and civil rights activists have launched a campaign against so-called "stand your ground" laws in more than two dozen states, including Florida. The laws allow use of lethal force outside the home if someone thinks their life is in danger.
Zimmerman argued that he killed Martin in self defence after he stalked the teenager. While the law was not referenced in the trial, except by the judge in her final instructions to the jury, it had been used by Sanford police to justify their failure to investigate or arrest Zimmerman for more than six weeks after the killing.
Civil rights group say the laws are used disproportionately in favour of whites and against blacks.
The US Commission on Civil Rights has launched an investigation into whether the laws have a racial bias, and both Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, who is also African-American, has promised to evaluate the legislation.
Lisa Smith had no doubts about the self-defence law: "If he (Zimmerman) was black, he would have been in the jail and (they would have) thrown away the key, and that's not right."
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