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Members of Martin Luther King Jr’s family joined marchers Monday in Washington urging Congress to pass voting rights reform as the United States marked the holiday commemorating the slain civil rights leader.
King’s son Martin Luther King III spoke at the march, warning that many states “have passed laws that make it harder to vote” more than half a century after the activism of his father.
The march’s message was aimed at boosting support for the Freedom to Vote Act currently before the Senate, and which passed in the House of Representatives last week.
But the bill faces an uphill battle as President Joe Biden negotiates with two holdout senators in his own Democratic Party to change a procedural rule that would allow Congress to pass the law without Republican support.
Biden argues the bill is vital to protecting American democracy against Republican attempts to exclude Black and other predominantly Democratic voters through a spate of recently enacted laws at state and local levels.
Marchers at Monday’s Peace Walk echoed demands made by MLK more than 60 years ago as they chanted, “What do we want? Voting rights! When do we want it? Now!”
Many carried posters printed with King’s image and his famous 1957 appeal to “Give us the ballot,” which called on the federal government to enforce Black Americans’ right to vote nationwide, including in the heavily segregated South.
“We march because our voting rights are under attack right now,” pastor Reverend Wendy Hamilton told AFP at the demonstration.
“As a matter of fact, our democracy is very fragile,” said Hamilton, a local politician in Washington, whose residents themselves do not have full representation in Congress.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, such as Terri Sewell from Alabama and chairwoman Joyce…
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Source : france24
