President Joe Biden honored Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday with a speech that tied the civil rights icon’s legacy to the importance of passing Democrats’ sweeping voting rights reform, which currently endangered by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) refusing to change the filibuster. Biden Stresses Urgency Of Voting Rights Legislation While Marking MLK Day:
In prerecorded remarks to the National Action Network’s annual breakfast released by the White House, Biden asserted that it’s “not just enough” to praise King on the holiday.
“We must commit to his unfinished work to deliver jobs and justice, to protect the sacred right to vote, the right from which all other rights flow,” the President said.
“The attack on our democracy is real, from the January 6th insurrection to the onslaught of Republicans’ anti-voting laws in a number of states,” he added. “It’s no longer about who doesn’t get to vote. It’s about who gets to count the vote and whether your vote counts at all.”
Biden’s remarks on Monday echoed his speech on the voting rights legislation last week in Atlanta, Georgia, particularly the moment when the President indirectly called on Manchin and Sinema to decide which “side” they want to be on as state Republicans slap restriction after restriction on voting access.
“I know where I stand. And it’s time for every elected official in America to make it clear where they stand,” Biden said on Monday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to bring the legislation and the proposed filibuster rule change to a vote on Tuesday even in the face of Manchin and Sinema’s refusal to budge.
There will be no absolution for any senator who betrays voting rights, the fundamental foundation of any true democracy. The future of American democracy hangs in the balance today. Where do you stand, Senator? History will judge those who betray our democracy harshly. There will be no safe haven where you can hide and escape accountablity for your cowardly appeasement of the enemies of democracy. Justice will find you and hold you to account.
Martin Luther King III took the Deliver For Voting Rights march to Washington, D.C. on Monday. In his speech he addressed the obstructionist Sens. Manchin and Sinema.
Talking Points Memo reports, MLK’s Family Call Out Sinemanchin For Stonewalling Voting Rights:
The family of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been turning up the heat on Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) as the senators clutch onto the filibuster, [a Jim Crow relic] which dooms any chance of passing Democrats’ voting rights legislation.
During a press conference after the “D.C. Peace Walk” in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Yolanda Renee King, the 13-year-old granddaughter of the civil rights icon, urged the two senators to “do the right thing” when the legislation comes to a vote as planned this week. Though Sinema and Manchin support the bills, they refuse to back any changes to the filibuster that would allow the bills to pass.
“Senator Sinema, Senator Manchin, our future hinges on your decision, and history will remember what choice you make,” Yolanda Renee King said as her father, Dr. King’s eldest son, stood next to her.
The son, Martin Luther King III, had slammed Sinema on her home turf during a voting rights rally in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday.
“History will remember Sen. Sinema, I believe unkindly, for her position on the filibuster,” he said.
Sinema paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. Day via Twitter on Monday, writing “Today we remember the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. #MLKDay”
There are many today who will celebrate Dr. King's life while dishonoring his life's work by blocking efforts to pass federal voting rights legislation.
Keep this in mind: you cannot remember Dr. King and dismember his legacy at the same time. It is a contradiction.— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@SenatorWarnock) January 17, 2022
Part of King’s legacy includes his criticism of the filibuster, especially because the procedure was being used as a cudgel against voting rights.
“I think the tragedy is that we have a Congress with a Senate that has a minority of misguided senators who will use the filibuster to keep the majority of people from even voting,” King said during an interview in 1963.
Senator Rev. Rapahel Warnock, who is now the pastor of Dr. King’s Ebeneeezer Baptist Church, has emerged as the moral voice of the Senate.
When I’m asked about bipartisanship—which I firmly believe in—I just have to ask, at what expense? Who is being asked to the foot the bill for this bipartisanship?
And is liberty itself the cost? pic.twitter.com/b7HVckQyIT
— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@SenatorWarnock) December 14, 2021
And Bishop William Barber II from Moral Mondays and The poor People’s Campaign.
TAKE ACTION: Join our national call-in to the offices of Sens. Manchin, Sinema, McConnell, and Schumer to demand that they take action and do right by the 140 million poor and low-wealth people living in this country.
Sign up now: https://t.co/76mz3isnqW
— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) January 17, 2022
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.