Press Releases
Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King, III, Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan, NAN Chairman Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn RIchardson, Edward Dubose (NAACP), & Other LEaders, To Hold A Press Conference & Rally Thursday in Atlanta, GA, to Discuss Voting Rights & NAN’S March from Selma to Montgomery to Defeat Voter ID Laws and Anti-Immigration Laws
—WHEN:
Thursday, February 23, 2012
11:00 a.m.
Press Conference
National Action Network headquarters Atlanta, GA
632 Peeples Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30310
7:00 p.m.
Voting-Rights Rally
Providence Missionary Baptist Church
2295 Benjamin E. Mays Drive S.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30311
BACKGROUND:
Rev. Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network (NAN), has announced that from March 4-9, NAN and partnering national organizations, congressional leaders, and activists will lead a march from Selma to Montgomery to lead the fight to protect civil and voter rights. The 5-day march will commemorate the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights march and will begin at the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Sunday, March 4th ending with a rally at the Alabama State Capitol on Friday, March 9. The march is in support of voting rights and to highlight the continuing efforts against voter suppression. This includes the efforts to defeat voter identification laws and reverse anti-immigration laws in the state of Alabama. Congressman John Lewis, who helped lead the march in 1965 with Martin Luther King, will help NAN lead the march in 2012, and over a dozen Black and Hispanic members of Congress have announced their support of the march.
Partnering with National Action Network are AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) the National Organization for Women (NOW), National Urban League (NUL), The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights, The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), NAACP, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and Communications Workers of America (CWA).
Highlights of the march will include daily rallies and teach-ins in cities along Route 80 in Alabama including Selma, Hayneville, Lowndesboro & Montgomery, and on the last day of the march on March 9th there will be a rally on the Capitol steps in Montgomery, Alabama.
NAN is one of the leading civil rights organizations in the nation, with chapters around the country. NAN works extensively to promote a modern civil rights agenda that includes a standard of decency for all people regardless of race or sex, social justice for all communities, and improvement of race relations. Through the years NAN has served as a megaphone for the voiceless and an advocate for those in need. This past year we have focused heavily on the issues of education and non-violence, particularly in the youth community.
For more detailed information please visit www.nationalactionnetwork.net