If Martin Luther King Jr. was alive today, he would be concerned about the various policies throughout the United States that will make it more difficult for Americans to vote.
On the MLK holiday, his son Martin Luther King III, son’s wife Arndrea Waters King and granddaughter Yolanda Renee King are set to participate in a march in honor of the civil rights leader. Their goal is to get more people interested in developing legislation that can provide all Americans access to the polls.
“We’re working to restore the very voting rights protections my father and countless other civil rights leaders bled to secure,” said King III, chairman of the Drum Major Institute, initially launched in the 1960s. “We will not accept empty promises in pursuit of my father’s dream for a more equal and just America.”
The major goal is to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965. There have been a couple of legal cases in recent history that have taken away provisions of the law. Suppression bills have already appeared in 49 states.
On the holiday, King’s family and supporters will march across the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C. They’ll meet up with others for the 16th Annual Peace Walk.
“On the historic day of service to commemorate my father-in-law and continue his work, we will join our voices together to call for no celebration without meaningful voting rights legislation,” said Arndrea Waters King, president of the Drum Major Institute and a longtime activist who worked with the late Reverend C.T. Vivian, a civil rights stalwart and proponent of nonviolence. “Voting is an essential part of our democracy’s infrastructure, and we cannot afford for it to crumble any further.”
Last week, the House passed the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act. It is now set to go to the Senate.