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| National Action Network President Rev. Al Sharpton (center) is joined with allies from the labor, womens’ and immigrant rights community to announce a five-day march that will trace the route of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March. |
Thousands of marchers from the civil, labor and human rights community are expected to take part in a five-day march commemorating the historic 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, AL. The 52-mile march will follow the original route and highlight the current revival of GOP voter suppression efforts at the state and national level.
Over 30 states have new or pending changes to current voting laws that could significantly reduce the number of early voting days, require voters to show restrictive forms of photo identification before voting and make it harder for volunteer organizations to register new voters.
“These restrictions, which could impact as many as five million U.S. citizens, are part of a coordinated campaign to make it harder for elderly, disabled, minority, young, rural, and low-income Americans to exercise their right to vote,” said Diane Babineaux, Chief of Staff to the International President. “Supporters of these laws claim they will reduce the risk of voter fraud, but the evidence of voter fraud is virtually non-existent.”
The march, which is being sponsored by the National Action Network, will begin at the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on Sunday, March 4 and conclude with a rally at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery on Friday, March 9.
