Martin Luther King III and the Rev. Al Sharpton will hold a nationwide march against voter suppression on Aug. 28 — the 58th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.
The event, dubbed “March On for Voting Rights,” comes as legislatures across the country move to tighten up voting rules.
Just under 390 bills have been introduced across 48 states aimed at restricting voting access in some form in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, the march’s organizer, March On, said in a statement.
King in a statement said his father, Martin Luther King Jr., would be “greatly disappointed in where we are at this particular moment, but he would not give up on the nation.”
“He believed in the power of people, the power of young people, and the power of change to come, and I am proud to support March On for Voting Rights to help carry out that change and recommit ourselves to finishing my father’s unfinished work,” he said.
Demonstrations are planned in Atlanta, Houston, Miami and Phoenix — cities in GOP-led states that have passed controversial voting reform measures since the 2020 elections.
There will also be a march in Washington, D.C., to call for passage of federal voting rights legislation.
March On said the need to pass federal voting rights protections has increase dramatically since the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, when supporters of former President Trump stormed the building on the baseless premise that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
“The danger since then has only increased, as numerous elected officials have now codified such lies into law, citing nonexistent voter fraud and public doubts they themselves encouraged,” the group said.
The march is being held in partnership with King’s Drum Major Institute, the Service Employees International Union, Sharpton’s National Action Network and the Future Coalition.
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