On King Holiday, Hundreds Walk for Voting Rights and D.C. Statehood
DMI Staff
Hundreds of people participated in a Peace Walk in Ward 8 with the family of Martin Luther King III on Jan. 17, the official holiday of his father, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to call on the U.S. Senate to pass voting rights and D.C. statehood legislation.
“I am out here today with my sorors of Zeta Phi Beta, 40 of us strong, to say that voting is the answer to many of our country’s problems,” said Alisha McLeish, a member of the sorority and the MLK Holiday DC committee that served as the prime sponsor of the 16th Annual Peace Walk.
“We want the Senate and the White House to work together to pass voting rights legislation and D.C. statehood,” she said.
Two voting rights bills, The Freedom to Vote Act of 2021 and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021, as well as The Washington, D.C. Admission Act of 2021, remain stalled in the Senate, unable to move forward due to a tactic known as the filibuster.
A filibuster holds up a bill for floor consideration by a senator or senators and it takes 60 votes to break it.
King, along with his wife, Arndrea Waters and 13-year-old daughter, Yolanda Renee, came to Washington to say his father’s holiday should not be celebrated. Instead, efforts should be intensified to see the filibuster suspended so that the voting rights and D.C. statehood bills will be considered by the Senate. The Kings also want President Biden to use his power to see that the bills move.
The usual parade which occurs on King’s holiday did not take place due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Read the full article on The Washington Informer.