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GUEST WORDS--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "Give Us the Ballot" speech in 1957 advocating for voting rights for African Americans.
When African Americans faced racist Jim Crows laws, and a Congress and president who failed to take action to protect Americans from discrimination, Dr. King had this message for people fighting for Civil Rights:
Keep going today. Keep moving amid every obstacle. Keep moving amid every mountain of opposition.
If you will do that with dignity, when the history books are written in the future, the historians will have to look back and say, “There lived a great people. A people with ‘fleecy locks and black complexion,’ but a people who injected new meaning into the veins of civilization; a people which stood up with dignity and honor and saved Western civilization in her darkest hour; a people that gave new integrity and a new dimension of love to our civilization."
We too must "keep moving amid every obstacle" to protect our democracy and our fundamental right to vote.
These battles can sometimes feel impossible, but we will prevail as long as we keep fighting for justice. That was Dr. King's message in 1957 that we must remember today.
I hope you have a meaningful day celebrating Dr. King’s life and legacy.
(Guest columnist Jason Kander is president of Let America Vote.)
-cw