The Renewed Fight For Voting Rights Starts Today with Massive Mobilization
May 16 is the beginning of what organizers say will be a sustained summer of organizing “rooted in the tradition of Freedom Summer.”
They keep stealing people’s sacred right to vote away because they are afraid that they’ll lose power if they honor the fundamental freedom inherent in voting rights.
Today, more than 90 civil rights, faith, labor, and community organizations are leading the All Roads Lead to the South movement, as thousands of advocates are set to converge on two historic civil rights sites to fight for voting rights.
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May 16 is the beginning of what organizers say will be a sustained summer of organizing “rooted in the tradition of Freedom Summer.”
“All Roads Lead to the South” is a massive grassroots mobilization in Alabama, protesting recent Supreme Court decisions that threaten Black voting power and fair representation, but people around the country can participate as well.
When the illegitimate Supreme Court effectively dismantled key protections of the Voting Rights Act in a 6-3 decision (Louisiana v. Callais), it reminded people that “we have unfinished business. The fight is ours — and we are going to finish it,” the ACLU said of Saturday May 16’s National Day of Action titled “All Roads Lead to the South.”
“The day will begin with prayer and remembrance at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, honoring the legacy of those who marched in 1965 and the generations who fought to expand democracy in America,” the NAACP wrote.
“In the afternoon, organizations and communities will gather in Montgomery for a national rally and call to action rooted in the spirit and legacy of Freedom Summer.”
Freedom Summer was a 1964 voter registration drive in Mississippi organized by major civil rights groups that aimed to drastically increase the number of registered Black voters and end systemic disenfranchisement.
Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King will join as a reminder that the movement her parents started is far from over.
“Selma and Montgomery remain sacred ground in the struggle for freedom and voting rights, places forever tied to the legacy and leadership of her parents, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, whose work and sacrifice helped transform the nation and inspired generations to continue the fight for justice,” the Legal Defense Fund reported.
