On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the United States celebrates a lost icon who gave his life in the struggle for equality, including through having equal access to the ballot. After the Supreme Court essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act, Democrats are trying today to reestablish guidelines set forward by MLK’s vision in voting laws and democracy.
Let's honor Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy by working to protect the right of every American to vote.
"The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition,” he said in 1957. It was true then and it's true now.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 17, 2022
Former first lady, secretary of state, and the first woman to become a presidential candidate in a major political party, Hillary Clinton, tweeted a message to elected officials today on the importance of voting rights, especially on this day. Although President Joe Biden has supported a voting rights bill to curb some of the gerrymandering, laws limiting practices like mail-in voting and early voting, and restrictive laws that make access to the ballot less and less accessible, particularly in areas where black and brown Americans live.
Heroes like Dr. King and John Lewis, men who marched and were jailed and beaten for fighting for the rights of all people to vote should be not be honored not with platitudes and cherry-picked quotes that make politicians feel validated for the decisions they make, but with a sense of respect for what they fought for. In doing so, the only option is to act to ensure their legacy survives.
Twitter had a big response to the tweet by Secretary Clinton and most were supportive of her statement. Read some of their comments below:
