Roughly 20 activists with the grassroots organization 99Rise converged on Central Park in Turlock Friday afternoon on one of many stops in their 480-mile California March for Democracy. The march, which was in its 28th day as of Friday, began in Los Angeles and is set to end in Sacramento on June 22 where organizers and supporters are expected to sit in at the capital and demand that legislators acknowledge "Big Money’s" role in the corruption of politics.

“The California March for Democracy is an effort in our state to really sound the alarm about the urgency of this fight to end corruption and get Big Money out of politics,” Kai Newkirk said. “That sense of apathy or resignation, sometimes hopelessness, that people feel that the system is so rigged and so corrupt so what can they do? That is one of the hurdles we have to overcome. That’s part of why we’re doing this.”

The activists depart from Turlock at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and are expected to arrive at Modesto’s Graceada Park around 4 p.m. where they will continue to engage locals and bring awareness to their cause.

“I think right now our future as a country is really in danger unless we do something about this. The American dream is not going to be there for future generations, we’re going to see crashes of our economy like what happened in 2007 and 2008, and climate change is going go unchecked unless we really do something and win a government that serves the people and get Big Money out of our politics once and for all,” Newkirk said. “We want to shine a spotlight on Sacramento and on our leaders so that they can’t hide. They have to be made accountable and make a decision that the public is seeing.”