MLK family, Vice President Harris urge U.S. Senate act to bolster right
to vote
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[January 18, 2022]
By Jan Wolfe and Nathan Layne
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The family of slain
civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and their supporters, some
shouting, “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Voter suppression has got to go,” marched in
Washington on Monday urging passage of a law to protect voters from
racial discrimination.
As part of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day D.C. Peace Walk, the
King family and more than 100 national and local civil rights groups
strode across the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge calling on
President Joe Biden's Democrats to pass a bill in the U.S. Senate.
The march followed a disappointing week for Biden, who went to the
Capitol to urge Senate colleagues to change filibuster rules so they
could overcome Republican opposition to the bill, only to be forcefully
rejected by two conservative Democrats who effectively hold veto power
in the evenly split chamber.
In a separate speech livestreamed to the late Rev. King's Ebenezer
Baptist Church in Atlanta, Vice President Kamala Harris also urged the
Senate to act, warning that efforts to restrict voting in some U.S.
states could make it more difficult for millions of Americans to vote.
"We must not be complacent or complicit," Harris said. "We must not give
up, and we must not give in. To truly honor the legacy of the man we
celebrate today, we must continue to fight for the freedom to vote, for
freedom for all."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jan/18/images/ads/current/fcs_funeral_lda082613.png)
At a rally before Monday's March, King's son, Martin Luther King III,
praised Democrats for passing a sweeping infrastructure bill last year,
but implored them to push through voting-rights legislation.
"You were successful with infrastructure, which was a great thing," King
said to a crowd of hundreds, "but we need you to use that same energy to
ensure that all Americans have the unencumbered right to vote."
King III, his wife, Arndrea Waters King, and their daughter Yolanda
Renee King, led the march across the bridge.
“We need to make sure that everyone in this country can get to the
polls, vote, and have their vote heard,” said Lisa Meunier, 53, of
Washington, who joined the marchers.
The bill before the Senate would expand access to mail-in voting,
strengthen federal oversight of elections in states with a history of
racial discrimination and tighten campaign finance rules. Democratic
supporters argue it is needed to counter a wave of new restrictions on
voting passed in Republican-led states that election observers say would
make it harder for minority and low-income voters to cast ballots.
New restrictions have emerged following former President Donald Trump's
false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread
fraud.
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![](../images/011822PIX/news_g13.jpg)
Yolanda Renee King, granddaughter of the late civil rights activist
Martin Luther King Jr., speaks as her parents Martin Luther King III
and Arndrea Waters King stand with her before the start of a Peace
Walk on the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge to urge Democrats to
pass a law protecting voting rights during Martin Luther King Jr.
Day, in Washington, U.S., January 17, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jan/18/images/ads/current/werth_lda_LUAL_2021.png) 'HISTORY WILL REMEMBER'
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer has said the chamber would take up
the bill on Tuesday, a delay from his earlier plan to hold a
procedural vote on the bill by Monday, the federal holiday honoring
King.
Republicans, who hold half the 100 seats in the Senate, are united
in opposition to the bill, which they brand a partisan power grab.
That leaves Biden and Schumer just one path to passing it:
persuading conservative Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten
Sinema to agree to change the chamber's filibuster rule that
requires at least 60 senators to agree on most legislation.
Yolanda Renee King addressed comments to the two holdout senators
after the march.
"Senator Sinema, Senator Manchin, our future hinges on your
decision, and history will remember what choice you make," she said.
Some civil rights groups in Georgia that helped propel Biden to
presidential victory during the 2020 election boycotted his voting
rights speech in Atlanta last week, saying they were disappointed by
Biden's lack of action.
"Black voters risked everything – including their own health at the
height of the pandemic – to vote Biden and Senate Democrats into
office," wrote Cliff Albright and LaTosha Brown, co-founders of
Black Voters Matter in a response to Biden's speech.
"It's time that officials in Washington treat us and our rights with
the same level urgency."
Should these groups lose their enthusiasm for Democrats, it could
increase the party's chances of losing their razor-thin majorities
in at least one chamber of Congress in the Nov. 8, 2022, election.
Yolanda Townsend, who called herself a “senior” from the Washington,
D.C., area, said at Monday's rally that she had found Biden's
Georgia speech timely and forceful.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jan/18/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png)
“I wish it was drawn earlier, but I think a line in the sand has
been drawn and you’re either with us or against us," Townsend said.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington and Nathan Layne in Wilton,
Connecticut, additional reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by James
Oliphant; Editing by Scott Malone, Howard Goller and Bill Berkrot)
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