King Family and Activists Plan Marches to Spur Action on Voting Rights

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — Frustrated with President Biden and congressional Democrats for failing to enact voting rights legislation this year, progressive advocacy groups and descendants of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. are planning to use the January holiday commemorating the civil rights leader’s birth to call for more aggressive efforts to overcome Republican opposition.

With two measures stalled on Capitol Hill, members of the King family, backed by dozens of liberal organizations, say they will take their campaign to protect voting rights on the road, holding a series of marches to promote the urgency of the issue beginning Jan. 15 in Phoenix and ending two days later in Washington, D.C., on the official holiday.

They hope to spur action, after months of stalemate in Congress, to offset new voting restrictions being imposed around the country by Republican-led legislatures. And they plan to press their case for killing the filibuster — the maneuver Republicans are using to thwart action in the Senate — condemning it as a tool for perpetuating racist policies.

The planned marches are the most vivid sign yet of activists’ growing dismay with the White House and top Democrats about the party’s inability to move forward on the voting rights bills. Some involved in the fight say they see no clear strategy for success, and argue that Democrats have moved too slowly even as they have pressed hard to break through Republican obstruction on other issues.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/15/us/voting-rights-king-family.html

[ck4829]

1. K&R

[Budi]

2. "Frustrated with President Biden and congressional Democrats"

NYTimes just can't ever seem to find anyone else to blame.

The same NYTimes that drove Hillary Clinton's name into the dirt 24/7, EVEN amid all her warnings of what was at stake.

Well here we are. OWN WHAT YOU CREATED.
NYTimes, & the entire Jill Stein/RU machine that ran loud against the salvation of our country when it was at a turning point.[b/]

POINT THE FINGERS OF BLAME AT YOURSELVES. 1st.

Are not the Progressives/liberals part of that same Democratic leadership in our Legislature? They're no heroes in this fked up situation either.
We were all warned. That those warnings were flat out ignored & instead, handed power to those who have torn this country to shreds, brought it to the brink, rests with those who run & profit from the Corporate MEDIA Show.
NYTimes continues to profit from the hell they created.

Biden & the Democratic Party didn't creat this mess. But they're continually the fall-guys for someone elses intentional fuck up.

Fk you NYTIMES.

[Jakes Progress]

4. The NYT isn't marching.

The people who organized and did the impossible in the last election are the ones who are marching.

Trash the press all you want. It's a jolly activity on both sides of the aisle.

But address the issue of the post. We still haven't addressed the most important issue of this administration. If we don't, then it is truly too late.

[Budi]

6. Well NYTimes addressed the issue of the post ..by BLAMING Biden & the Democrats!

Last edited Wed Dec 15, 2021, 12:58 PM - Edit history (1)

That is my point ffs.

When does NYTimes OWN THEIR ROLE.
WHEN DOES SOME POLITICAL GROUP MARCH AGAINST THE MEDIA WHO IGNORED THE WARNINGS THAT BROUGHT US TO THE BRINK.

We shouldn't HAVE TO BE marching for voting rights,
Nor Blaming the LAST People on the planet responsible for where we are, The Democratic Party.
WHO THE FK CREATED THIS HELLHOLE?
Sure wasn't Biden, VP Harris, nor the Democratic Party.

Start naming who brought us to this point.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216146871

[Jakes Progress]

10. Don't be distracted.

Don't do like republicans and blow up everytime something you perceive a criticism.

Read the article again. Take a breath and read it another time.

The NYT (an organization that I do not trust or believe practices good journalism) did not say these things. Their reporting is that the organizers of the march said them. Do you believe that they are not correct to say that the organizers are frustrated with the Democrats in Washington? Then say that.

Do you think that the people who, against all odds and without a lot of help from the DNC, actually turned Georgia blue are not unhappy that Washington Democrats have blown a year of effort and political capital fighting for ephemeral things? Then tell the marchers they are wrong. (But you would be wrong if you thought that.)

Nothing that the party has accomplished will last 18 months without Voting Rights action. People are marching to say that Washington has been led around by republicans to kill time until they can undo everything. The have not had their eye on the ball.

The article and OP that has thrown you into screaming (that's what all caps means) fits does not do any of the things you claim it does. When you want to blame the fake media because they are reporting our mistakes, you are only giving Washington excuses for not doing what needs to be done.

[Budi]

13. That's an insulting reply. Who was doing the 'distracting' when the warnings were declared?

WHO??

It wasn't the Democrats.

OWN THE SHIT SHOW YOU CREATED NYTimes.

[Jakes Progress]

16. Please stop shouting. It is insulting and rude.

Please read carefully the posts to which you wish to reply.

No one said the NYT was guiltless of the shit we are in now. No one.

No one said the Democrats were distracting from the issues. (You didn't clarify what "warnings" you were referring to. I'll just assume it is another result of your anger. It is fine to be angry with the media. It is fine to be angry with the NYT. But it does distract from the issue of the Voting Rights legislation. Hopping up and down and screaming about the NYT does not address the issue that the organizers of these marches are rightly angry about. )

The issue is how Democrats are going to get the John Lewis act done. If they wait for the republicans to do it, they have failed. If they wait for republicans to grow a conscience, they have failed. If they keep letting republicans direct their attention elsewhere or expend any more political resources on bills that, if passed, won't last a year, they have failed.

If they fail, if we fail, there won't be another free election or Democratic branch of government again. That is the issue, not anger at a bad newspaper.

[Budi]

17. Now its a concern! FIVE FKING YRS LATER?

Where were you all?

So now the Same Party that Warned & Tried to Prevent this shit 5 yrs ago, is Being Blamed For Not Fixing It Fast Enough?
Look who's using the media in claiming credit for "demanding those Same Democrat's now Fix it".

Go ahead & march but gdammit, leave the Democratic leader's name off your list of Who To Blame.

A whole bunch of particular chest beaters get zero credit now for saving us from this disaster. They ignored the warning when it was in front of them

Pelosi & CBC called for the John Lewis Voting Act long before some of these people bothered to see the writing on the wall.

Where was their urgency then?

[Jakes Progress]

18. What part of read the post before you flame is hard?

You still keep wanting to make it about the media. That's not what the thread is about. Read again.

Where were you? Were you in Georgia carving out a win for Democrats against incredible odds. Stacey Abrams fought the republican machine and won. Black Democrats handed the election to this administration. The complaint, the source of the disgruntledness is that the administration spent time and political will on short term measures. (Measures that will be moot if the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is not passed. The work that it took to win in Georgia is proof that Voting Rights should not have been shunted to the side. You hate the NYT so much, but they are the ones talking about it. Yes our wonderful Speaker called for the act to pass. But her marching orders were to push the other parts of the president's agenda (An agenda of change I love and support wholeheartedly. That is why I want those changes to be in place for more than 18 months.)

This isn't the Times or me or another non-insider complaining about the delay. The organizers are people who know about what is happening and what has happened in Washington. They know that Voting Rights has been put on a back burner. Why do we have to hear from the NYT how urgent this is and what the repercussions will will be. Why isn't this the focus of every press conference and every Administration speech? Why isn't there the long Oval Office meetings with obstinate Democrats that are held regarding less important issues? Where is the arm twisting and deal making that have been used to pass legislation that won't last two years without the Voting Rights Act.

[elias7]

19. If you compare vs CNN & NBC, NYT is more critical of Dems

CNN:
The family of Martin Luther King Jr. is calling for "no celebration" of MLK Day without the passage of voting rights legislation, putting pressure on President Joe Biden and lawmakers to act on federal voting rights bills that have stalled in Congress.

Martin Luther King III, his wife Arndrea Waters King and their daughter Yolanda Renee King plan to mobilize activists on MLK weekend to push for Biden and Congress to apply the same efforts to federal voting rights bills that they used to pass the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. They hope to send the message: "you delivered for bridges, now deliver for voting rights."

"President Biden and Congress used their political muscle to deliver a vital infrastructure deal, and now we are calling on them to do the same to restore the very voting rights protections my father and countless other civil rights leaders bled to secure," Martin Luther King III said in a statement Wednesday, adding that they "will not accept empty promises in pursuit of my father's dream for a more equal and just America."

The Kings and local groups plan to rally supporters in Phoenix on January 15, the date of King's birthday, "to restore and expand voting rights to honor Dr. King's legacy." The Kings chose to mobilize in Arizona because of its "draconian" voting rights law, provisions of which the US Supreme Court upheld this year and in doing so limit the ability of minority voters to challenge state laws under the Voting Rights Act.


NBC:
Martin Luther King Jr.’s family is planning to commemorate the January federal holiday in a new way next month: pressuring Congress to pass federal voting rights legislation.

“No celebration without legislation,” said Martin Luther King III, vowing to use his father's memory to press Congress and the White House to get voting rights bills across the finish line. “Just as they voted for a bill to deal with infrastructure, bridges, and all of the things that go along with infrastructure we are now saying use that same effort, that same focus, to pass the John Lewis bill and the Freedom to Vote Act.”

Both pieces of legislation have been blocked by Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats have so far declined to change the rules that require 60 votes for most bills to advance. The Senate is evenly split at 50-50.

Meanwhile, some states are imposing new restrictions on access to the ballot box: At least 19 states enacted such laws last year, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, and Republican lawmakers have begun to lay the groundwork for similar legislation in next year’s legislative sessions.

[Jakes Progress]

20. You are correct, but of course that is not

what the OP or my post was about.

Distrust of the media was not the subject. The subject was that a core (and often ignored) constituency of the party is unhappy with the progress on the Voting Rights Act.

These stories seem to have hit a nerve in the administration that now thinks it is time to begin pushing for passage.

[elias7]

22. I disagree...

I think the OP was about the subtle and sometimes not so subtle NYT habit of casting Dems in a pejorative light, when Trump and the Republicans seem to skate with minimal castigation, as if their corruption is so obvious that it need not be stated…

[Jakes Progress]

23. In you head.

Show me where the OP mentions the NYT habit of casting Dems badly.

The OP quotes a NYT article - of a story carried on multiple sites - about the protest being staged to propel the Democrats in congress to get on with what those organizers think is more important than other elements of the administration agenda. The poster made no comment. By your reasoning, since the post was entirely the words written by the NYT, then the NYT was subtly calling itself out for being unfair to Democrats.

Now if you want to start a thread that castigates the NYT and other media for their stupid "both sides" style of reporting or goes after the uneven coverage of Democrats minor errors versus the Constitution wrecking agenda of the gop, then you would get a definite thumbs up reply from me.

But to say that this OP and this thread is about the media is just not so. That issue is in your own head. I agree with the idea, but this OP and thread involves the lackluster achievement of the party so far on Voting Rights action.

Start an OP on media bias and I will happily participate. In this thread, let's discuss the achievements made toward the Voting Rights act.

[Jakes Progress]

3. The last paragraph is an indictment of the Democratic Party.

Last edited Wed Dec 15, 2021, 08:23 PM - Edit history (1)

"they see no clear strategy for success, and argue that Democrats have moved too slowly even as they have pressed hard to break through Republican obstruction on other issues."


This isn’t a matter of being able to say that common voters just don’t understand what is going on behind the scenes. The people organizing this march and the disgruntled organizers in the states know exactly what goes on and what isn’t happening.

We all know who put Biden in the White House and Pelosi in the Speakers seat. Without their work and their savvy we would have no voice at all. They needed that voice to be better - to not waste the chance they gave us.

Voting Rights should have been the first priority, not something down on the wish list.

If the argument is that Voting Rights can’t pass because of manchin or sinema or filibuster, then the argument is that we should just give up and stop tying. If we go into the next election with the rules that Georgia and Texas and half a dozen other states have enacted still in place, we will lose all power to enact decency in America.

If we can’t figure out a way to do away with the crooked voting laws in those states, then we have lost. Yes, we can turn out in the millions, we can swamp the polls with Democratic votes, and we can organize the greatest turnout in history. Won’t matter. In Texas, for example, if the republican legislature wants to, it can just toss the ballots and create its own slate of electors appointed by the slimy republican governor.

So these marchers - I will be one - are telling Washington Democrats to get it done. Be as smart and capable as you told us you were. Tell me what I can do to help. Just don’t tell me that my vote and my money are all it takes. That money will be wasted when that vote is trashed by the republican states.

Sorry if this is too angry. But the need to pass the the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act needs to be first on the list - not something after we have compromised everything else. I want environmental laws and jobs for workers and corporate responsibility too. But even if we pass the BBB with every provision in it, it will be moot. One month into the next term, it will all be eliminated. As the republicans have slow rolled us, we have let die, the one bill that would make republicans pay attention to all of our other legislation.

[DLevine]

5. Yup. Get this done or our democracy is dead. nt

[CTyankee]

8. I have seen this before and I lived through that era. I was radicalized when my son was 3 years old

and the Vietnam War was going on and on and I feared he would be drafted at age 18 and lost in the Vietnam War. I got negative feedback from my family. LO and behold,l was proved right. I have never regretted it.

[mcar]

14. Democrat party?

[Jakes Progress]

15. Sorry. Really stupid typo. I'll fix.

Thank you.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. I like that they are starting in Sinema's turf.

As for the NYT blaming Dems, the Dems didn’t cause the problem, but they are they only hope for a solution…

[Martin68]

9. Frustrated with President Biden and congressional Democrats for failing to enact voting rights

legislation this year" Did I miss something? I thought it was Republicans who blocked every attempt to pass voting right legislation. Why is anger directed at the only people who are doing their bset to pass voting rights legislation?

[Jakes Progress]

11. Yes they did. But are you going to rely on republicans

to do the right thing?

The anger is that our party has wasted a year without going for the only legislation that will make a permanent difference. You can't believe that yelling at republicans will make them decide to do the right thing. The march is to tell Democrats to pay attention and stop letting republicans slow walk Democracy.

People who are in the know about what is going on in Washington don't see any progress or effort going into Voting Rights Legislation. I will be joining the marches. I want my elected party - the ones I campaigned for, donated to, and helped elect to get busy with the thing that matters most.

[nowforever]

12. Storm the Capital

Maybe that will work. How about the NY Times printing an article that reads "Why do Republicans fear free and fair elections" or "Why are Republicans sabotaging our democracy" or "Republicans are killing our nation by lying to the people". Because the money and the power that is corporate media would not benefit. March till your shoes wear out it will not change anything. We need to grow some balls and start going to Arizona and reveal the crappy poll numbers Sinema has and start looking at Joe Manchins daughter's bank account along with his. Start naming names and call out the Republicans for what they are...Traitors and Anti-American...cowards and grifters just like their big Orange hero. How about really fighting...its what ended the Vietnam war.

[CTyankee]

21. Yes, it did and I lived it.

I am now an old woman but I saw the trajectory of the Vietnam War. Of course,l could not stop the Vietnam War, but that didn't stop me from fighting it so my little boy would not fight in it.

I've thought deeply and long about just what you are saying. We must all stay in the fight, stay alert. Eternal vigilance!

[SunImp]

24. Good on them

Hope they all stay safe