U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman on Saturday spoke at the Make Good Trouble Rally for voting, civil and social rights at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The rally, which was held on the 58th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “I Have A Dream” speech and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was one of dozens held across the country to call for protections for voting and civil rights, and an end to the racist and anti-democratic suppression of Black voters across the country. An estimated 75.000 people attended the events in D.C.
In his speech, Bowman advocated for the abolition of the filibuster, D.C. statehood and the passage of legislation including the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, to reaffirm voting rights in the wake of Supreme Court decisions weakening the Voting Rights Act.
“It’s a shame that, 58 years later, we are here fighting for the same darn thing as Dr. Martin Luther King,” he said. “Here is our charge in the coming weeks: We have to pass the For the People Act in the Senate, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in the Senate. The House has already done its job, so the Senate has to step up and do its job. But the Senate is not going to do its job if we do not exercise our unlimited power as the people of the United States of America.”
The Make Good Trouble Rally was organized by Until Freedom, Black Church PAC, Transformative Justice Coalition, Black Voters Matter, Repairers of the Breach, Poor People’s Campaign, Kairos, The Gathering for Justice, Faith for Black Lives, Fund Peace, Woke Vote and more than 60 other partners.
