PROTEST THE SUPREME COURT’S RACIST DECISION! DEMAND THE RESTORATION AND EXPANSION OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT! MARCH ON WASHINGTON AUGUST 24!
In one of the most atrocious decisions in its long, class-based, and often highly repressive history, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 25, 2013 handed down a ruling gutting the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
This Act was adopted only after years of tumultuous struggle sparked by marches, rallies, mass demonstrations, civil disobedience, sit-ins and confrontations with club-wielding cops, sheriffs and police dogs. Activists shed blood and even died in the fight to secure voting rights. Sufficient pressure was finally mustered to force Congress to pass the legislation and Lyndon Johnson to sign it.
But now it has been undone in a day that Rep. Marcia Fudge, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, called “a day that will go down as one of the worst days for civil rights and civil discourse in this country’s history.”
How could the Court dare to pull the curtain down on vital parts of a law which, whatever its limitations, has proven to be the most effective tool legislated so far in ensuring the right to vote, especially in the South, for millions of previously disenfranchised communities of color? Because the Court’s majority, hiding behind a flagrantly dishonest rationale, expected the situation to calm down and victims of the ruling to simply accept it and look to Congress for relief, which will only be an exercise in futility if limited to a lobbying campaign.
In fact, the Court threw the ball to Congress to make necessary changes. The Court majority said in effect, “We are not striking down the requirement that some states and cities must get pre-clearance from the Justice Department before making changes in election procedures. We’re only saying that the list of covered jurisdictions is outdated. So Congress must redraw the map and document where discriminatory abuses can be demonstrated. Until it does, we are rendering the pre-clearance requirement inoperative for alljurisdictions.” Civil rights leaders had demanded that the Voting Rights Act be maintained as is, pending any future Congressional action.
After all, from 1992-2006, the Voting Rights Act blocked 1,000 discriminatory changes in voting laws, especially regarding voter ID requirements and rolling back early voting. And as recently as seven years ago, Congress voted to reauthorize the Act by a vote of 390-33 in the House and 98-0 in the Senate.
But that was then, this is now. Since everyone understands that our dysfunctional and far more conservative Congress won’t act under the current circumstances to restore what the Court invalidated, the Court’s ruling has truly dealt a lethal blow to the Voting Rights Act.
It took mass action in the streets to win the Voting Rights Act. It will take mass action of an even greater magnitude to win its restoration and expansion. The starting point is to pull out all the stops to make theAugust 24 March on Washington one of the greatest mobilizations in our history.
More than one month ago, the Labor Fightback Network issued an appeal to the labor movement and leading community organizations to mobilize on August 24 and promote a series of demands that were essentially part of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s core beliefs: expansion and improvement of our earned-benefits programs (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid), massive job creation through a public works program, and defense of labor’s rights, among other key demands. [See our model resolution below.]
The recent Supreme Court decision underscores the need to protest that decision in the most massive way possible and to demand — in addition to the points made in that model resolution — a new, comprehensive and expanded Voting Rights Act as a centerpiece of the August 24 march in Washington. We have to get back in the streets and pick up where the 1965 actions left off.
The wave of reaction, repression and austerity sweeping the U.S. is threatening to engulf us all, and a united fightback is now the order of the day. Join us in Washington D.C. On August 24! Bring signs and banners! Keep the Dream Alive!
– Demand a Voting Rights Act with teeth to cover all areas of the country where needed!
– Stop All Forms of Voter Suppression Now!
Issued by the Labor Fightback Network. For more information, please call 973-944-8975 or emailconference@laborfightback.org or write Labor Fightback Network, P.O. Box 187, Flanders, NJ 07836 or visit our website at http://laborfightback.org.
Donations to help fund the Labor Fightback Network based on its program of solidarity and labor-community unity will be much appreciated. Please make checks payable to Labor Fightback Network and mail to the above P.O. Box or you can make a contribution online. Thanks!
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Model Resolution in Support of Mobilizing
for the August 24, 2013, March on Washington
WHEREAS, the major civil rights organizations have joined together to call for events — including an August 24, 2013, March on Washington — commemorating the 50th anniversary of the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech; and
WHEREAS, this speech was delivered to more than 250,000 civil rights supporters, including many from organized labor, on August 28, 1963 at the March on Washington demanding Jobs and Freedom; and
WHEREAS, the AFL-CIO has endorsed the 50th anniversary commemorative events; and
WHEREAS, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Dr. C.T. Vivian has declared, “We still have to march. We must tell the President and Congress that 50 years later, the struggle continues and poverty continues unabated;” and
WHEREAS, other 50th Anniversary Commemorations will be held over the next few months, including the one co-sponsored by the UAW and the Detroit Branch NAACP in Detroit on June 22, 2013; and
WHEREAS, the [name of union body’s] participation in the August 24 March on Washington and in the other commemorative actions will give us an opportunity to honor King’s memory and the things he fought for, including his commitment to the cause of organized labor, which was shown by his support for AFSCME’s campaign to organize sanitation workers in Memphis, where he was assassinated; and
WHEREAS, what is needed today is a “Martin Luther King’s People’s Agenda,” which will make clear that the causes Dr. King fought for are still very much in the forefront now and that if he were still with us he would certainly support a March on Washington to demonstrate the massive support for that agenda — including jobs, justice, freedom, civil rights, human rights, labor’s rights, protection and expansion of safety net programs, and peace; and
WHEREAS, the sequestration, involving $85 billion in federal spending cuts, has already started to depress the economy by reducing the number of new jobs, and the AFL-CIO has called for its “wholesale repeal;” and
WHEREAS, the percentage of people working is at its lowest since 1979; and
WHEREAS, President Obama’s proposed 2014 budget calls for cuts to Social Security and Medicare; and
WHEREAS, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stated that cuts to Social Security and Medicare are “indefensible” and declared “The President should drop these misguided cuts in benefits and focus instead on building support in Congress for investing in jobs;” and
WHEREAS, the [name of union body’s] participation in the August 24 March on Washington will provide an occasion for promoting labor’s demands for no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other vitally needed social programs, which need to be expanded and improved, not reduced; repeal of the sequestration; creation of a federally funded public jobs program to put the 27 million unemployed and underemployed people back to work by taxing the rich; investing at home instead of the militarization of our foreign policy; and defense of labor’s rights — all of which were essentially part of King’s core beliefs; and
WHEREAS, the [name of union body’s] participation in the August 24 March on Washington will reflect our commitment to the cause of civil rights, with freedom, justice and equality for all; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the [name of union body] hereby endorses the August 24 March on Washington and will mobilize to bring as many trade unionists and community allies as possible from our area to Washington to participate in this event; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the [name of union body] will call on [name of state union body] the national AFL-CIO, Change to Win and the National Education Association (NEA) to issue a mass call to mobilize their members and community supporters to demonstrate on August 24 in Washington and participate in the other commemorative activities around these demands; and be it finally
RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, NEA, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, whose address is 320 Auburn Ave., Atlanta, GA 30303, phone number is 404-522-1420 and email address is <info@nationalsclc.org>.
Please add your/your organization’s name to the list of endorsers showing support for mobilizing for the August 24March on Washington.
ENDORSEMENT COUPON
I / We endorse the August 24 March on Washington called by the major civil rights organizations commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
This action will provide an occasion for promoting labor’s demands for no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other vitally needed social programs, which need to be expanded and improved, not reduced; repealing sequestration; creating a federal public jobs program funded by taxing the rich to put the 27 million unemployed and underemployed back to work; investing at home instead of in the militarization of our foreign policy; and defending labor’s rights — all of which are consistent with King’s core beliefs; and
I / We will urge our unions and/or community organizations to endorse the August 24 March on Washington and to mobilize as many of their members as possible for this event, and we will urge our unions and community organizations to call on the national AFL-CIO, Change to Win and the National Education Association (NEA) to issue a mass call to mobilize our members and community supporters to demonstrate onAugust 24 in Washington around these demands.
[ ] I / We endorse the above statement.
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Please mail to Labor Fightback Network, P.O. Box 187, Flanders, N.J. 07836, or send to <conference@laborfightback.org