REP. JOHN LEWIS: 40 years later, we are still marching for the right to vote. So I say to each and every one of you, thank you for being here. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Keep your faith and keep your eyes on the prize.
Forty years ago when Hosea Williams — when I walked across that bridge with Hosea Williams 40 years ago, we were beaten, we were tear gassed, we were bullwhipped, we were hurt, but we didn’t give up, and you must not give up 40 years later. The Voting Rights Act was good in 1965, and it is good in 2005, and those of us in the Congress will do our part to see that it is reauthorized.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Georgia Democratic Congress member, John Lewis, speaking on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia. He and tens of thousands … attended the “Keep the Vote Alive” march, which commemorated the 40th anniversary of the signing of the landmark Voting Rights Act. … Organizers said their goal was not just to remember the historic signing [but] push for Congress and President Bush to extend key provisions [that] expire in 2007.
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EKWUEME MICHAEL THELWELL: [This isn’t] the same Republican Party. These people are not conservatives. They are right wing radicals. What will that Congress do when it comes time to renew the Voting Rights Act? And it would be important to note also that during the Reagan administration, when another renewal came up, some of the strongest and most cogent and most ideologically driven arguments as to why the Voting Rights Act should be constrained or not renewed came from Mr. Roberts who has been nominated to the Supreme Court now.
Amy Goodman devoted a thrilling hour today to the Voting Rights Act 40th anniversary. BELOW, an e-mail from Cynthia McKinney to her supporters:
Forwarded to me by Lisa Pease, author of the Real History Archives Blog:
An e-mail from Cynthia McKinney:
McKinney Blue Crew in AJC Photo of Voting Rights Act March!
Hey ya’ll!!!!
The McKinney Blue Crew was in the House yesterday!!! And we want to
stay in the House–the US House of Representatives, that is.
We’re back–speaking truth to power.
We’ve delivered truth to the taxpayers of the State of Georgia on the
full extent of their relationship with Diebold Election Systems. And
we’ve got more to tell on Diebold’s role in Georgia’s elections.
We delivered 9/11 truth to the Members of Congress and their staffs by holding a historic Capitol Hill briefing featuring whistleblowers, scholars, and family members, including Lorie van Auken, speaking on behalf of “The Jersey Girls” who were present.
In addition, for the last three months, I’ve been on C-Span delivering
important messages to you in Special Orders. In my last Special Order
I called the roll of Georgia’s Iraq War dead. I also alerted you to
the bill reinstating the draft, introduced recently into the House of
Representatives, and I read excerpts from General Smedley Butler’s
book, “War is a Racket.”
And we were there yesterday at the Save the Vote march and rally.
I’m back speaking truth to power and I will need your help. The Blue Crew was present and accounted for at the march as you can see in the picture below. And I spoke powerfully at the rally. But come next year, you might need to catch that midnight train to Georgia. Because the owners of the war machine know that we have the power to stop them if enough of us put our entire bodies against the gears and the levers and the wheels of the war machine. You know that I have done that. Against War. For justice. For peace.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve.
