Here’s what New Jersey activists had to say about the latest Supreme Court decision at a rally led by the People’s Organization for Progress as they protested outside the Peter W. Rodino Jr. Federal Building in Newark on Wednesday, May 13.
“Today we are at this rally for the protection of federal voting rights, but it is ironic that we just came off a municipal election where, out of 257,000 registered voters, only about 30,000 came out to vote,” said Deborah Smith Gregory, president Newark NAACP. “We must fight on two fronts. We must restore the Voting Rights Act, but we also have a responsibility to vote and hold elected officials accountable.”
“We’re standing in solidarity with our community against the latest attacks on voting rights,” said Assatta Mann, community organizer, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. “The Supreme Court’s latest blow to the 1965 Voting Rights Act threatens to undermine hard-won progress that people fought and died for.
“There is a clear effort to concentrate power in the hands of a few, and we cannot let that happen. We’re calling on Gov. Mikie Sherrill and the Legislature, to act now and pass the John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act.”