Chicago demonstrators push for voting rights bill on MLK Day
CHICAGO - On Monday, family members of Martin Luther King Jr. marched with civil rights activists through Washington D.C.
The group held signs calling for congress to pass the voting rights bills.
President Biden and Vice President Harris released pre-taped remarks about MLK Day, encouraging Congress to pass the bill.
The VP went so far as to say American’s right to vote is "under assault."
Here locally, local activists also pushed for the voting bill to become law.
Many said while Monday is a federal holiday, it is not a day to relax. Some took the Martin Luther Ling Jr. holiday to focus on the voting rights act.
"We are here today to call on Congress, more specifically to call on senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin to do the right thing, to stop standing in the way of the filibuster. We are at a crossroads of the conscious of this country," said Erica Bland-Durosinmi, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare.
Senators will vote Tuesday on the "John Lewis Voting Rights Accountability Act" that targets racial discrimination in the voting process and the "Freedom to Vote Act" which encourages early and mail-in voting.
There is Republican opposition to the legislation and two Democratic senators are standing against changing the Senate rules to pass the law.
In Chicago, civil rights groups met at Washington Park for a car caravan, demanding lawmakers in D.C. stand up for voters.
"This is a part of the big ten of Dr. King’s work and we're going to march all over America and this is what they need to know; no matter what you do to stop us, you will not stop the vote. The vote is alive, the dream is alive, and the push is on," said Bishop Tavis Grant of Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
MLK Day is about change, service to our neighbors and that's what was happening at the Oakley Square Apartments on the West Side.
The nonprofit "Ladies of Virtue" were handing out groceries, personal protection equipment (PPE) and school supplies to the residents.