WASHINGTON (Transatlantic Today): Activists are mobilizing around the country in the hopes of persuading Congress to adopt voting rights reform by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Individuals in various parts of the United States are currently participating in a hunger strike as a sign of protest in order to have the law passed.
Following Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s “Dear Colleagues” letter released in early January, Rev. Stephen A. Green, leader of Faith for Black Lives, planned a hunger strike that included him and 24 prominent faith leaders from across the country.
Green and the other religious leaders went on a strike on January 6. Un-PAC, a nonpartisan organization whose present objective is to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, has resumed its hunger strike, which began last month, and is currently protesting outside the United States Capitol.
Un-PAC went on a hunger strike outside the White House for just over two weeks last month to advocate for voting rights legislation. More people are joining the organization’s walkout, including religious leaders.
On Saturday, there will be a voting rights mobilization in Phoenix, which will be another huge demonstration in support of voting legislation.
The Arizona state legislature has implemented state legislation reducing voting access throughout the last year.
Arizona is also home to Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, who is one of two important Democrats required to end the filibuster and open the way for vote legislation. Sinema, on the other hand, made it quite clear during her Senate floor speech on Thursday that she had no intention of doing so.
All of these events are leading up to Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day march in Washington, D.C., which will begin at Potomac Avenue and culminate at the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge. According to ABC News, Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, and other voting rights activists and community organizers will speak at a press conference about the importance of passing voting legislation.
Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have yet to agree to halt the filibuster despite negotiations with President Joe Biden and other Democratic colleagues. There appears to be no way for voting laws to be passed before or on Martin Luther King Jr. Day without their votes, but that isn’t stopping demonstrators and voting rights proponents from acting.
