40th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march
** In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights, and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, please call your Senators today and ask them to support the “Count Every Vote” Act: (202) 224-3121. Details below. **
This weekend thousands of people will commemorate a critical event in voting rights and civil rights history: the 40th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march. We hope you will join CODEPINK in honoring this event and the thousands of people who fought for and won the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which finally gave African Americans in the South the right to vote.
The anniversary of the Selma march is the perfect opportunity to push for new legislation to ensure our voting rights today, which are still in jeopardy.
On March 7, 1965 in Selma, Alabama, hundreds of African Americans embarked on a 54-mile march to demand the right to vote. What began as a peaceful demonstration became the event known as “Bloody Sunday”, when state troopers attacked, tear-gassed, clubbed and trampled the marchers with horses.
People throughout the United States were shocked by the violence inflicted against the peaceful marchers, and they quickly organized demonstrations in dozens of cities in support of the marchers. Many religious leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., went to Selma to peacefully confront the state troopers by marching the same route out of Selma. Shortly afterward, President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This weekend the Selma march will be re-enacted, to honor the participants in the voting rights struggle and remind people that the struggle and for our voting rights is very much alive today.
As Rev. Jackson wrote in an article this week, “Now in this divided nation, the undermining of voting rights - and the unwillingness of the majority party to defend them - is spreading. We saw it in Florida in 2000, where a partisan secretary of state, head of the Bush campaign in Florida, intentionally purged qualified black voters from the voting lists. … We saw it once more in 2004, in Ohio. Once more the secretary of state in charge of the election was a rabid partisan and co-chair of the Bush election campaign. Once more, African-American voters were disqualified improperly. Machines without paper records, manufactured by companies headed by pro-Bush partisans, were adopted for use. When black registration went up, the number of machines in black districts went down, creating lines that lasted for hours.” (Click here to read the full article.) http://www.suntimes.com/output/jesse/cst-edt-jesse011.html
TAKE ACTION FOR VOTING RIGHTS TODAY!
On February 18, Senators Barbara Boxer and Hillary Clinton introduced the “Count Every Vote” act. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Selma march for voting rights, we urge you to call your Senators today and ask them to co-sponsor and actively push for the passage of this act.
CAPITAL SWITCHBOARD: (202) 224-3121
The “Count Every Vote” act will:
* Provide voter-verified paper ballots for every vote cast on electronic machines
* Set uniform standards for provisional ballots
* Ensure equal access to voting machines and election personnel in every community
* Designate Election Day as a federal holiday
* Make deceptive voter suppression activities a federal crime
* Restrict the political activities of state elections officials and voting machine manufacturers
We also encourage you to sign and circulate CODEPINK’s Voter Bill of Rights. http://www.codepinkalert.org/National_Actions_Voter_Bill_of_Rights.shtml
For those of you in driving distance for Selma, we hope you will make sure that CODEPINK is present for this weekend’s events. For details about the events, click here. http://www.crmvet.org/anc/0503selm.htm
In peace,
Andrea, Carol, Claire, Dana, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Nancy, Tiffany
March 3, 2005 http://www.codepinkalert.org
This weekend thousands of people will commemorate a critical event in voting rights and civil rights history: the 40th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march. We hope you will join CODEPINK in honoring this event and the thousands of people who fought for and won the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which finally gave African Americans in the South the right to vote.
The anniversary of the Selma march is the perfect opportunity to push for new legislation to ensure our voting rights today, which are still in jeopardy.
On March 7, 1965 in Selma, Alabama, hundreds of African Americans embarked on a 54-mile march to demand the right to vote. What began as a peaceful demonstration became the event known as “Bloody Sunday”, when state troopers attacked, tear-gassed, clubbed and trampled the marchers with horses.
People throughout the United States were shocked by the violence inflicted against the peaceful marchers, and they quickly organized demonstrations in dozens of cities in support of the marchers. Many religious leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., went to Selma to peacefully confront the state troopers by marching the same route out of Selma. Shortly afterward, President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This weekend the Selma march will be re-enacted, to honor the participants in the voting rights struggle and remind people that the struggle and for our voting rights is very much alive today.
As Rev. Jackson wrote in an article this week, “Now in this divided nation, the undermining of voting rights - and the unwillingness of the majority party to defend them - is spreading. We saw it in Florida in 2000, where a partisan secretary of state, head of the Bush campaign in Florida, intentionally purged qualified black voters from the voting lists. … We saw it once more in 2004, in Ohio. Once more the secretary of state in charge of the election was a rabid partisan and co-chair of the Bush election campaign. Once more, African-American voters were disqualified improperly. Machines without paper records, manufactured by companies headed by pro-Bush partisans, were adopted for use. When black registration went up, the number of machines in black districts went down, creating lines that lasted for hours.” (Click here to read the full article.) http://www.suntimes.com/output/jesse/cst-edt-jesse011.html
TAKE ACTION FOR VOTING RIGHTS TODAY!
On February 18, Senators Barbara Boxer and Hillary Clinton introduced the “Count Every Vote” act. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Selma march for voting rights, we urge you to call your Senators today and ask them to co-sponsor and actively push for the passage of this act.
CAPITAL SWITCHBOARD: (202) 224-3121
The “Count Every Vote” act will:
* Provide voter-verified paper ballots for every vote cast on electronic machines
* Set uniform standards for provisional ballots
* Ensure equal access to voting machines and election personnel in every community
* Designate Election Day as a federal holiday
* Make deceptive voter suppression activities a federal crime
* Restrict the political activities of state elections officials and voting machine manufacturers
We also encourage you to sign and circulate CODEPINK’s Voter Bill of Rights. http://www.codepinkalert.org/National_Actions_Voter_Bill_of_Rights.shtml
For those of you in driving distance for Selma, we hope you will make sure that CODEPINK is present for this weekend’s events. For details about the events, click here. http://www.crmvet.org/anc/0503selm.htm
In peace,
Andrea, Carol, Claire, Dana, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Nancy, Tiffany
March 3, 2005 http://www.codepinkalert.org
Starmail - 5. Mär, 23:30
