Politics | the read | Keyona Porshaa`
Civil disobedience is an active ingredient in the recipe for change.
I thought surely that I needed to go and grab my glasses to re-read the tweet I was looking at but what I was reading was true; Representative Joyce Beatty (Democrat-Ohio) had been arrested on Capitol Hill Thursday evening during her protest for Voting Rights. No sooner than my good friend Nieema could pose the question to Twitter, “Where did politics go? VP Kamala Harris??...Joe?? Did the ground beneath Capitol Hill begin to shake from #GoodTrouble and activism, a nudge from the late Congressman John Lewis to continue to push for equality for BIPOC.
Although already under threat from GOP lawmakers, North Carolina is shifting gears towards the right direction after winning the restoration of voting rights for North Carolina natives that have previously been convicted. They are calling the expansion seen in North Carolina since the Voting Rights Act in 1965. According to The Washington Post, Monday’s Superior Court hearing in Raleigh N. C. the only state in the South to restore individuals previously convicted their voting rights automatically after they leave prison.
During July President Joe Biden urged congress to “act” on the preservation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in Philadelphia during a speech at the National Constitution Center. President Biden described the urgency of passing the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act as a “national imperative,” according to USA Today. As President Biden makes his remarks at least 14 states have already enacted restrictive voting accessibility on the heels of Donald Trump’s influence. “The 21st century Jim Crow assault is real,” he said. “It’s unrelenting.”
As a voting rights initiative Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (OH-03) organized “Speak Out: Call To Action Day On Capitol Hill'' where a steadfast group of roughly 30 civil rights champions and advocates assembled first before a podium at the United Methodist Church urging citizens to get active and join in lobbying the GOP to remove the filibuster and then marched to the Hart Senate Office Building to demand change on Thursday, July 15th. The filibuster stands to impede Democrats’ ability to pass legislation by a majority vote.
At the podium numerous community leaders and activists called the community to the attention of voter suppression, the importance of the right to vote and how the community is directly impacted by voting rights accessibility. “The right to vote is nothing without the ability to exercise that right,” said one of the representatives of Clayton County Georgia’s Black Women’s Roundtable.
Congresswoman Beatty approached the podium saying, “we might as well still have the dogs and the hoses because we don’t have the Voting Rights Act. Today is about fighting for everyone!” Outside of the Supreme Court Building the march commenced following her remarks during which you could hear protestors courageously sing “This Little Light of Mine,” and “We Shall Overcome,” as a rallying cry against voting restrictions that disproportionately disenfranchise BIPOC voters.
Shortly thereafter, CNN reports that Rep. Joyce Beatty, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus was the first person after being warned to clear the area of the Hart Senate Office Building was to be arrested of the protest group to include, according to The Grio, Melanie Campbell, convener of Black Women’s Roundtable and a group of about ten others for “illegal demonstration in a prohibited area” according to Capitol police. Per Rep. Beatty’s press release today’s goal was to present a powerful demonstration of speaking out and a call to action in response to countless voter restriction laws being passed in states throughout the nation including the Senate Republicans’ refusal to engage in drafting legislation that represents voter equality.
“Direct action is one of the tools that we must use when we can’t get our leaders to act. It’s part of our strategy,” said the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation President Melanie Campbell in response to Rachel Maddow’s question about what she expects to face moving forward. “Voting Rights is not an option to say we will go back to the 1940s. We expect [ for ] our leaders to lead and we will continue to put the pressure on those leaders and believe that we will win!”
“We are not going to die down,” answers political activist Tamika Mallory when asked by CNN analyst and reporter for The Grio, April Ryan, is this a ‘one and done’ type of political effort. “We will continue to organize. Our goal is that people around the nation see us.”
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