GREAT IDEA to Fight Voter Suppression - 2005 DU MLK Selma MARCH IN OHIO!

[Pooka Fey]

The following idea is the brain child of Darknyte7, one of the DU attorneys that we are so fortunate to have on our side. See the following thread for the original:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=276145&mesg_id=281074

2005 is the 40 year anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. We have an amazing opportunity here!!! We can publicize the outrageous voter suppression and disenfranchisement of African Americans in Ohio in the November 2004 election. AND we can tie it to a campaign of public awareness, pride, and celebration of the anniversary of this historic law, passed under the administration of democratic president Lyndon Baines Johnson. Let’s recreate the spring, 1965 Selma marches led by Dr. King, but this time let’s march in Ohio!

Darknyte7’s idea is to recreate this historic event on March 25th; this will involve approximately 25,000 marchers on a 40-50 mile journey. We need to start planning this NOW: we need to decide upon a route, and we should find out if we can expect any problems like the original marchers. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on this Monday, Jan. 17th would be a good opportunity to start spreading the word about this idea.

This will create public support for ENFORCEMENT of the current law and publicize the legal battles in Ohio which are currently in progress. I’m kicking this out to you DUers to start the ball rolling. Let’s keep this kicked please. This is Darknyte7’s idea, I just wrote it up. Peace.


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For those that need or would like some historical review on President LBJ, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Dr. Martin Luther King’s Selma, Alabama March (UM, like me); I have included the following paragraphs from my encyclopedia:
Lyndon Baines Johnson became president of the U.S. on November 22, 1963, just hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In 1964 he was elected President by the largest popular majority in modern U.S. history. The following was written by Robert E. Burke: Electoral practices aimed at preventing blacks from exercising their legal right to vote were the focus of electoral reform in the 1950s and '60s. The most sweeping reforms were embodied in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law provided for automatic suspension of literacy tests and other voter qualification devices because they were applied in a discriminatory way; gave federal voting examiners the authority to register voters in areas not meeting certain voter participation requirements; authorized the U.S. attorney general to investigate the validity of state poll taxes; required federal review to prevent racial discrimination by new state voting laws; and made interference with voting rights conferred by the law a criminal offense. Supplementing this law was the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1964, prohibiting poll taxes as a qualification for voting in federal elections.
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The following on the Selma, Alabama March was written by Robert J. Norrell: In 1965 SCLC joined a voting-rights protest march that was planned to go from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, more than 80 km (50 mi) away. The goal of the march was to draw national attention to the struggle for black voting rights in the state. Police beat and tear-gassed the marchers just outside of Selma, and televised scenes of the violence, on a day that came to be known as Bloody Sunday, resulted in an outpouring of support to continue the march. SCLC petitioned for and received a federal court order barring police from interfering with a renewed march to Montgomery. Two weeks after Bloody Sunday, more than 3,000 people, including a core of 300 marchers who would make the entire trip, set out toward Montgomery. They arrived in Montgomery five days later, where King addressed a rally of more than 20,000 people in front of the capitol building. The march created support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which President Lyndon Johnson signed into law in August.
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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edited for typos

[BQueen]

1. Great idea!

I'm up for it.
:kick:

[Darknyte7]

2. kicking...

:kick:

[Darknyte7]

3. And again!

:kick:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

4. Very cool idea...

and a perfect tie-in. Keep us posted on this as details emerge. I would love to be a part of this.

[Darknyte7]

5. *singing* "Ain't too proud to kick, sweet darling" - arnheim

Borrowing a song penned by arnheim from this thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=268596#268619

Please don't let this die, oh no
Ain't too proud to plead, baby baby
Please come up with ideas, don't you know...

[FogerRox]

6. Suggestion-GOt to David L.'s

Redefeat Bush, Kip Humphery's 51capitalmarch.com and Rev. Jackson's Raimbow coalition/Push

[JoMama49]

7. Spreading this idea to

other liberal discussion groups I'm on.

[Darknyte7]

8. Thanks! n/t

[KaliTracy]

9. I would be very interested in participating in this! Great Idea! n/t

[Darknyte7]

10. oh no you don't...

:kick:

[Rebecca]

11. this is great, let's do it!

[Darknyte7]

12. Hi there!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Rebecca]

21. Hi to you too!

[Darknyte7]

13. Creative kick...

[Pooka Fey]

19. Hi Darknyte7. Love the photo. Love the clothes. Love the style.

I want to march in a lovely coat, my hair done, a fashionable handbag, and high heels like the lady on the left in the picture. :-)

[Darknyte7]

22. She was serious, wasn't she?

I hope they weren't marching TOO far in that photo. :-)

[Kota]

14. I love it.

[Carolab]

15. Fantastic! n/t

[seriousstan]

16. 25,000 marchers on a 40-50 mile ? Where do you get 25K people?

There were well under 1k in DC and only 900 in Columbus on the 3rd and someone in here told me Jesse bussed in 300.

I am done with the pie in the sky "taking the streets". It didn't happen and it won't. Bitch if you want. I am having a real shitty day and have had enough of dreaming.

Thing I no longer believe...

Kerry has a "secret plan"

Kerry is "crazy..like a fox"

Kerry is "playing chess"

There will be a Ukraine like protest

People won't put up with "it"

People care

[Darknyte7]

17. Sorry to hear that you're having a sh*tty day...

:nopity:

[Pooka Fey]

18. I don't agree with your tone, but I do hear your message.

There is a huge difference between angry democrats and segregation/Jim Crow era African Americans. 90 years of oppression immediately after 180 years of slavery will toughen up a person/social group very effectively. Most of us here on DU have NO IDEA of the ramifications of a lifetime of being treated like a non-human by an all-powerful majority. That does not mean that we have to wait until (potentially) we are all put in prison without a trial for questioning the Administration before we have enough emotional stamina to begin pushing back. And though this idea is about 24 hours old, I would venture to say that the Rev. Jesse Jackson might be willing to offer us some support for a project like this.

If you were a black man in 1965, would you have told Dr. King -"I'm done. Nothing will ever change." Maybe yes, maybe no. And I've anticipated your response - "Nothing did Change" - we are back fighting African American voter disenfranchisement. But society has changed. Change is slow, and change does not always move in the direction we would like it to.

Brick by brick, my friend.

[Darknyte7]

20. The first march...

in the Selma-Montgomery trilogy attracted just 600 marchers on "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965. The second march on March 9th, 1965 was a symbolic one lead by Dr. King, and only went to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The final march began on March 21st with 3,200 people setting out from Selma. By the time they reached the capitol on Thursday, March 25, they were 25,000-strong. It's a lofty goal, but I think it's do-able in the time we have to plan it.

Edit to correct the story.

[KaliTracy]

23. i think its more than doable if we get out to the neighborhoods that

especially were affected by the problems November 2nd -- so many people don't even know about the contest of the electors, or why it happened in the first plave -- if mainstream media isn't telling them -- who is?

Yes -- it's a lot to ask of someone to take time --- even if they walk only 4 or 5 miles...

it's a lot to ask of people to go to Washington (Again -- WHO KNEW, besides the people who frequent the Internet, and in Specific areas?) If we want more people on board, we need to talk about what happened. I'm keeping one-two copies of the Conyers report in my car now -- Believe me -- if people KNEW what was in that report -- especially people who lived it -- who were involved in those lines -- many of them would do something, if they could. Could they walk 50 miles? Probably not.... but could they tell other people? I believe so --

Blackwell is still refusing to answer Conyers' Questions or Adress his report -- I say -- get it out there in the PUBLIC eye, and put public pressure on him! (not media -- media cared not one whip for the link I sent to them the day it was released.) Prior to this Walk, people need to know. Even if they can't come, the more people talk, the hotter it will become. We have to overcome the Republican "spin" by starting our own word-of-mouth campaigns.....

or... should we all just go to bed until 2008?

[Pooka Fey]

24. Hi KaliTracy - This thread is also in Activism & Events

If you want to pop over & discuss. :-):-):-)