NYT covers march in Atlanta

[FogerRox]

By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: August 7, 2005
ATLANTA, August 6 - Thousands of people marched down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Saturday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, in an event organized by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and attended by lawmakers and celebrities, including Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson and Harry Belafonte.

But the mood was more cautionary than celebratory, with speaker after speaker warning in a rally after the march that the law may not be renewed by Congress when some of its critical provisions expire in 2007.

Debate over the law's extension is already under way. Opponents argue that the provisions, put in place to correct Jim Crow-era discrimination, are no longer necessary, while others say that recent voting scandals show that, if anything, the law should be strengthened.

"We must be sure that every vote that is cast is a vote that's counted," said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader.



rest of article-
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/national/07march.html

[MelissaB]

1. another snip

In an interview, Mr. Jackson said the march was held in Georgia for a broader reason. The South is home, he said, to most of the nation's poor, to a disproportionate number of the nation's soldiers, and to many of what he said were schemes to restrict voting and suppress workers.

"The South," he said, "must be revived as the battleground for our quest for a transparent and free democracy."

Activists from around the country, particularly other parts of the South, attended the march and rally, which ended at the stadium on the campus of Morris Brown, a historically black college in the heart of Atlanta.

[Cookie wookie]

2. Yeah Jesse!! n/t