Civil rights leaders plan voting rights marches in 5 cities to push for federal legislation
05 August 2021
Civil rights leaders from Washington to Phoenix are planning marches on Aug. 28 to push Congress to pass new protections around voting rights.
Why it matters: A landmark voting rights proposal remains stalled in the U.S. Senate, as Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and other moderates block efforts at filibuster reforms to advance a bill held up by Republicans.
Details: Martin Luther King III, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Alejandro Chavez (the grandson of César Chavez) are spearheading peaceful, multiethnic marches in five cities in states where legislators recently passed voting restrictions.
- Marches are scheduled in Atlanta, Houston, Miami and Phoenix to coincide with a national march in Washington.
- More than two dozen "sister marches" also are being organized in other cities to support federal legislation to protect voting rights.
- Advocates say the marches are necessary to put pressure on Congress to move on the legislation before the 2022 midterms, when voting restrictions in many states are set to begin.
What they're saying: "On the 28th we're going to be in thousands upon thousands in the streets, [and] we got to keep pushing until America becomes the America it ought to be," King said during a press call on Thursday.
- Sharpton said the marches will be peaceful, unlike the Jan. 6 protests by Trump supporters that would go on to attack the Capitol.
- "People [who] are coming understand they're coming in the spirit of Dr. King, they're coming in the spirit of Cesar Chavez. If you don't have that spirit, you're not invited down," Sharpton said.
Between the lines: Advocates feel they are in a race against time as Republican-controlled legislatures wait for the U.S. Census to release new data to draw new congressional districts.
- Civil rights advocates want Congress to act quickly on new voting rights legislation to prevent Republicans from gerrymandering districts that would give the GOP a better shot at taking the U.S. House in 2022. That would like stall voting rights proposals even longer.
The big picture: The Supreme Court last month upheld a pair of voting restrictions in Arizona, likely paving the way for new limitations across the country.
- Dozens of voting restriction bills have been introduced in states following the 2020 election, which saw record turnout among Black American, Latino, and Native American voters.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.