Posted on 08/07/2005 8:27:58 AM PDT by Libloather
Thousands March To 'Keep Vote Alive"
Jackson Leads March To Celebrate, Protect Voting Rights
POSTED: 1:40 p.m. EDT August 6, 2005
ATLANTA -- An estimated 100,000 people from all over the U.S. jammed downtown Atlanta and marched with Rev. Jesse Jackson to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act -- and to urge Congress to renew the historic piece of legislation.
The march began about an hour late at the Russell Federal Building, partly because of the large number of dignitaries taking part in the event. Politicians from Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin to U.S. Reps. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) joined entertainers Harry Belafonte and Stevie Wonder and thousands of chanting and singing demonstrators for the "Keep The Vote Alive" event that streamed down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and wound up at Morris Brown College's Herndon Stadium for a rally.
Organizers hope the Congress and President Bush will extend key provisions of the landmark law, which was signed in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson. The law expires in 2007.
"Forty years later, we're still marching for the right to vote," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who participated in the civil rights struggles that helped secure passage of the law.
"Don't give up, don't give in. Keep the faith, keep your eyes on the prize."
Activists from across the country flocked to the rally to join Lewis, NAACP President Bruce Gordon and Jackson, who heads the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
At the raucous rally at Herndon Stadium, Jackson took the stage and energized supporters with his trademark quotes of "I am somebody" and "Keep hope alive."
"The right to vote does not endanger, but we must protect it against discrimination," Jackson said.
Civil rights groups fear conservatives will try to modify two key provisions of the law. One requires nine states, mostly in the South, to get federal approval before changing voting rules. The other requires election officials to provide voting material in the native language to immigrant voters who don't speak English.
Activists also used the rally to protest Georgia's recently passed voter identification law, which critics call the most restrictive in the country.
If the bill is approved by the Department of Justice, Jackson warned on Friday, it could "spread like a virus" to other states. Rainbow/PUSH is among a list of objectors that have contacted the Department of Justice asking the agency not to approve the law.
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson (L) walks with singer Willie Nelson (C) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi during a march in downtown Atlanta, Georgia August 6, 2005. Some 2,000 civil rights activists, lawmakers and celebrities marched in Atlanta on Saturday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and demand the Bush administration renew the landmark measure.REUTERS/Steve Schaefer
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson (R-center) leads a march with singer Harry Belafonte (L-R), AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi in downtown Atlanta to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and to call attention to the re-authorization of the act in Atlanta, Georgia August 6, 2005. REUTERS/Steve Schaefer
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson (C) leads a march with Congressman John Lewis (L-R) singer Harry Belafonte, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi in downtown Atlanta to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and to call attention to the re-authorization of the act in Atlanta, Georgia August 6, 2005. Two people at right are unidentified. REUTERS/Steve Schaefer
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, head of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, is flanked by other officials as they march to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2005 in Atlanta. From left are, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.; Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; entertainer Harry Belafonte; Jackson, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Man at right is not identified. (AP Photo/Gene Blythe)
Voting Rights Act will not expire until August 6, 2007 but the camera grabbers start protests anyway.
One gathers that these folks take this occasion to be on a par with the Normandy Landing anniversary celebrations of a few decades ago.
The Civil Rights law expires in 2007 ????
Pelosi: "Man, Jesse, do you BELIEVE some of these white guys?"
Pelosi: "So I said, 'One of these days, Boxer, POW! Right to the kisser!'"
Say what you will about Bob Dylan, you won't find him marching with Jessee or anyone else, for that matter. Welcome to my ignore list, Willie Nelson.
A bunch of old farts have one last hurrah.
ROFL. Thanks.
Pelosi: "Hey, Jesse if I hold on to you like this will your peoples think I like blacks?"
Jessie, get some of your thugs to get rid of this homeless hick behind me. He'll ruin the photo op!
Maybe Jesse Jackson needs a 'recount' of his own children so they are all accounted for.
That sure doesn't look like 100,000 people to me. A couple thousand maybe. But, as all leftist protests go, the media always multiplies the actual numbers x 100.
The once a decade march of the lemmings took place in Atlanta this weekend.
Despite the carnage, there was no official PETA protest.
Any time you have an event ie: 60th Anniversay of Hiroshima, you will find the libs trying to rewrite history.
Have they yet to acknowledge that THEIR beloved President, Harry S. Truman was the one that dropped the bomb? No, they don't want to REMEMBER that part, so what do they do?
They run to Atlanta with Jesse Baby and try to make news about the history THEY want you to remember, The 40th Anniversay of the Voting Rights Act; and get this: THEY DEMAND Bush reinact this bill....THEY DEMAND!!
I don't know about you, but I'm getting really tired of them DEMANDING anything....I want to DEMAND that air is not provided to them to breath!!
...."The other requires election officials to provide voting material in the native language to immigrant voters who don't speak English."......
In how many languages are the written tests for citizenship written???
Voting materials should be provided in the same, no more, no less.
Jesse "Publicity Hound Jackson", Maxine,"I Hate White People" Waters, Harry, "I'm a Commie and Hate White America" Belafonte, Willie "I'm Always Stoned on Pot and Don't Know WTF I'm Talking About" Nelson, Nancy, "Wide Eyed Dingbat" Pelosi. And is that other short fat woman, Lynn, "Islamofascist Lover" Stewart?
It's the lying, cheating, vote stealing, "Democratic, Dimo crap, Dumbo crat voting fraud, dead people and criminals, but not the military, are voters too" voting rights act"
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