People
gather
in front
of one
of the
tour
buses
during a
stop on
the
Freedom
Ride For
Voting
Rights
at
Ebenezer
Baptist
Church
in
Atlanta,
Georgia,
U.S.
June 21,
2021.
REUTERS/Dustin
Chambers |
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The
crowd
reacts
as Black
Voters
Matter
co-founders
Cliff
Albright
and
LaTosha
Brown
speak
during a
stop on
the
Freedom
Ride For
Voting
Rights
at
Ebenezer
Baptist
Church
in
Atlanta,
Georgia,
U.S.
June 21,
2021.
(REUTERS/Dustin
Chambers) |
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On
'Freedom
Riders'
60th
anniversary,
voting
activists
ask
Biden to
do more
By
Merdie
Nzanga
reuters.com
ATLANTA,
GA -
Activists
traveling
through
the
South to
commemorate
the 60th
anniversary
of the
historic
"Freedom
Riders"
are
urging
President
Joe
Biden to
do more
to
protect
voting
rights
for
Black
Americans,
as
Democrats
and
Republicans
battle
over
ballot
access.
Dozens
of civil
rights
campaigners,
traveling
on five
customized
buses,
were
greeted
in
Atlanta
on
Monday
by
hundreds
of local
activists
and
Georgia
residents,
a local
band and
performances
of the
"Electric
Slide"
line
dance in
front of
Ebenezer
Baptist
Church.
Slain
civil
rights
champion
Martin
Luther
King
served
as a
pastor
at that
church
in the
1960s.
"I am
hoping
that we
will see
the same
kind of
tenacity,
commitment
and
passion
around
protecting
the
civil
rights
of Black
voters
as we've
seen
with
other
policies,"
LaTosha
Brown,
co-founder
of the
group
Black
Voters
Matter,
which
organized
the
tour,
told
Reuters
on
Monday.
Participants
are
trekking
this
week
from
Jackson,
Mississippi
to the
U.S.
capital
to push
for
voting
rights
legislation
six
decades
after
activists
called
"Freedom
Riders"
protested
against
segregated
bus
terminals
in the
South.
Biden
has
named
Kamala
Harris,
the
first
Black
U.S.
vice
president,
to lead
an
effort
against
a slew
of
Republican-backed
voting
restrictions
passed
at the
state
level
including
sweeping
changes
in
election
battleground
states
including
Georgia.
Democrats
have
said the
Republican
measures
disproportionately
affect
Black
voters.
The
activists
said
appointing
Harris
is not
enough.
"I think
he
(Biden)
needs to
look for
the next
John
Lewis,"
Shenita
Binns,
42, a
civil
rights
activist
from
Atlanta,
told
Reuters.
Lewis,
who died
last
year at
age 80,
was a
U.S.
congressman
who
earlier
was one
of the
original
"Freedom
Riders."
He also
was
instrumental
in
lobbying
for
passage
of the
1965
Voting
Rights
Act that
barred
discriminatory
voting
laws
adopted
in many
southern
states
to
prevent
Black
people
from
casting
ballots.
Biden
"needs
to look
right
here in
Atlanta
because
we are
the ones
who have
been on
the
ground
fighting
against
voter
suppression.
... We
are the
ones who
put
Biden
into
office,"
Binns
added.
Biden
won the
2020
election
by
prevailing
in
Georgia
and a
handful
of other
states
had that
backed
former
President
Donald
Trump
four
years
earlier.
His
fellow
Democrats
control
both
chambers
of
Congress
because
the
party
won two
Senate
runoff
elections
in
January
in
Georgia.
The
Senate
is due
on
Tuesday
to
consider
a
sweeping
Democratic-backed
voting
rights
bill
that
faces an
uphill
battle
amid
stiff
Republican
opposition.
The
White
House on
Monday
pledged
to
pursue
other
initiatives
to boost
voting
rights
even if
the
legislation
is
passed.
read
more
The bus
tour
heads on
Tuesday
to South
Carolina,
then
North
Carolina,
and will
stop on
Thursday
in
Charleston,
West
Virginia,
home
state of
Democratic
Senator
Joe
Manchin,
who
opposes
the
legislation
coming
before
the
Senate
on
Tuesday
but has
offered
a
compromise
proposal.
"There's
more
that we
think
the
White
House
could
do, and
that
involves
continuing
to put
pressure
on folks
like
Manchin,"
said
Cliff
Albright,
executive
director
and
co-founder
of Black
Voters
Matter.
"When I
say
pressure,
we don't
even
care
what it
looks
like,"
Albright
said.
"It
could be
the
carrot
or it
could be
the
stick,
it
doesn't
just
have to
be
pressure.
It could
be,
'Look
what
does it
take for
this to
be done
with,'
to be
honest."
Reporting
by
Merdie
Nzanga;
Editing
Heather
Timmons
and
Michael
Perry
Our
Standards:
The
Thomson
Reuters
Trust
Principles.
Advertise With Us:
Certified Minority Business Enterprise
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