Thousands rally on National Mall for voting rights

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Thousands of protesters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday to rally in support of voting rights on the 63rd anniversary of the March on Washington.

People from across the country came to the site to speak out against what they described as attacks on civil rights advocated for at the same location 63 years ago.

Calls to defend the right to vote echoed across the National Mall on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Rev. Al Sharpton, the march organizer, addressed the crowd.

“We’re in Washington, D.C. to proclaim the dream is still alive,” Sharpton said.

Thousands of protesters came to remember the address and to warn that the fight for equality is not over, following recent voting map changes and the weakening of a major civil rights law.

Eunice Johnson, an attendee from Maryland, said, “We all grew up in an era where we fought so hard for our rights. And slowly but surely, everything is being eroded.”

Margret Brown, another attendee from Maryland, said, “I’m from the South, lived through Jim Crow, so…I see so much happening now that could put us right back in that spot.”

A key focus for rally speakers was an April Supreme Court ruling that reinterpreted parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The ruling has allowed several states to eliminate congressional districts with large minority populations, which many worry could dilute minority congressional power.

Yolanda Flowers, an attendee from Alabama with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said, “I’ve been concerned about the redistricting because of the unfairness of it.”

Many attendees said they came to speak out against recent changes affecting minority voters across the nation.

Terry Collins, another attendee from Alabama and member of the 1963 Birmingham Foot Soldiers, said, “If we don’t make an impact and let people know how serious this is, the corrections won’t be made.”

The event was organized by Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and the Drum Major Institute, led by Martin Luther King III and Andrea Waters King.

House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) also spoke at the event.

“We certainly have come a long way in the United States of America, but we still have a long way to go,” Jeffries said.