Jackson, Farrakhan to lead voting rights marches

Commemorating the 37th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, two of the African-American community's most outspoken voices joined forces Saturday to push reauthorization of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson of Rainbow/PUSH and Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan announced that an Aug. 6 march in Atlanta led by Jackson and a 10th anniversary Million Man March set for Oct. 16 in Washington, D.C., will bring together tens of thousands to press Congress to reauthorize the act's enforcement sections that are set to expire in August 2007. They said the marches will highlight the state of black America, with participants rallying for jobs and health care. "Just before he was assassinated, Dr. King convened a multireligious, multiracial group for a Washington, D.C., march to force Congress to change its priorities. We must take our civil rights struggle back to the streets," Jackson said. "The right wing has already lined up in concrete to undermine the reauthorization of key sections of this [Voting Rights] act." [more]