January 15, 2024 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Honoring Dr. King’s legacy… and continuing the work
Contact all members of Congress:
- By phone: (202) 224-3121
- By email: democracy.io
- By US mail: Representatives / Senators
- By fax: Representatives / Senators
- By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
- MLK SAID: GIVE US THE BALLOT
On May 17, 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his “Give Us the Ballot” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Eight years later, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Black voter registration in the South soared. In 2013 and 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered decisions that significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act, resulting in states across the country passing restrictive voting laws (example). Let’s refuse to go backward. Let’s honor Dr. King by:- Telling our Members of Congress to co-sponsor and prioritize the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, H.R.14, which would require the federal government to “preclear” any changes in state election laws to assure that they don’t adversely affect voters
- Telling our Members of Congress to co-sponsor and prioritize the Freedom to Vote Act, S.1/H.R.11, which would counter Republican voter suppression tactics by ensuring that all states allowed early voting, mail-in ballots, and same- day voter registration
- Telling our state legislators and governors that we want them to enact a state Voting Rights Act in our state. See state VRA efforts here.
- Making sure we never miss an election by signing up for election reminders.
- BLACK VOTERS MATTERThe national voting advocacy group Black Voters Matter (BVM) was founded by activists LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright in 2016. The stated purpose of Black Voters Matter is to increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities. We believe that effective voting allows a community to determine its own destiny. We agree with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he said, “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” There are many opportunities to volunteer with Black Votes Matter, let’s check them out here and consider signing up for their Black Voters Matter Volunteer Resolution Kick Off on March 28.
- EQUITABLE FUNDING FOR HBCUS IN THE FARM BILL
With the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action in higher education, experts expect the historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) will now play a growing role in higher ed. HBCU land-grant universities have been subject to discriminatory funding, and their on-campus infrastructure and housing have suffered for it. Land grant schools are provided federal funding in the Farm Bill, and with the current version now set to expire at the end of September Congress has a chance to close a loophole that has allowed the states to deprive HBCU land grant schools of $200 million in matching funds over the last decade alone. Let’s share this report from the Century Foundation on how the Farm Bill can ensure equity and justice for HBCUs with our members of Congress and ask them to follow its recommendations.
- SUPPORT GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS IN RACIAL JUSTICE EFFORTS
As the MAGA movement continues to do everything they can to stymie the progress on diversity and inclusion in the past several decades, such as trying to ban readings and curriculum that tell the truth about racial injustice, many organizations like Color of Change, Fair Fight and the NAACP (just to name a few) are increasing their efforts to fight for a just and fair society. Let’s learn more about what these and other organizations are doing and support them with donations. - GIFS AND MEMES FOR MLK DAYDemcast has provided us with a collection of gifs and memes about MLK Day and religious freedom to be used on and around Martin Luther King Day. Let’s access them here.
- READ AND SHARE DR. KING’S WORDS
A great many public figures will stand up and praise Dr. King today – including plenty who loathe everything he stood for and actively use his image as a cudgel against the racial and economic justice he spent his life working towards. The weaponization of his quotes, taken out of the context of his broader views and work, to bash those who follow in his footsteps or to support the reversal of his legacy has become a bitter cliché, and one we should not accept. This year, let us take some time to familiarize ourselves with the history of conservative use of this holiday to co-opt Dr. King and the recent growing open rejection of him by key figures on the right, and to read and share his words in their entirety to appreciate and reflect on the full force and bravery of his activism. The American Writers Museum has collected some of his greatest writings and identified resources where we can find even more here.
AND FINALLY, SOME GOOD NEWS
- LAST WEEK’S WINS“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” – and as Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH) notes, it does not do so on its own, but because people pull it there. Our friend Jessica Craven at Chop Wood, Carry Waterhas highlighted a few steps towards progress we’ve made in the last week here, including victories in court for voting rights, new experiments in direct cash payments to pregnant women and families with newborns in Flint, and Virginia electing the first ever Black speaker of the House of Delegates… 405 years after the first enslaved persons were brought to its shores.