Added to those marchers are others across the country …..
Congress has been unable to move on Voting Rights legislation to counter the Republican efforts on voter suppression and voting supervision across the country since last November’s election….
Saturday’s mass mobilization will mark the 58th anniversary of the historic March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. That march came just two months after Evers’ death. An anniversary march was also held last year in Washington on the heels of nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd.
The March On for Voting Rights comes after the arrests this summer of several civil rights leaders and lawmakers protesting voter suppression. Among them were Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. William J. Barber II, Cliff Albright, Rep. Hank Johnson and Rep. Joyce Beatty.
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Martin Luther King III, King Jr.’s eldest son who is also leading Saturday’s march, said he has seen fervor in the demonstrators who rallied across the country after Floyd’s death and showed up at last year’s anniversary march.
And while the 1963 March on Washington ultimately led to key voting rights legislation — one of its top demands in addition to jobs and civil rights — voter suppression efforts in recent years have been a setback, King said.
Many of the tactics being used to disenfranchise Black and brown voters are “a more sophisticated form of Jim Crow,” King said.
King said he hopes the Saturday march sends the message that there is an urgency to rally around voting rights. He called it “frightening” that state legislatures are enacting laws that give them control over election outcomes.
“We are not going to just sit by idle and allow our rights to be eroded,” King said. “My hope is that the community understands this is enough.
We’re not going to give up. “
image….Members of Black Voters Matter and other voting rights activists gather prior to a march in Washington on Aug. 4.Alex Wong / Getty Images file