SPEAKER PELOSI TO JOIN MARTIN LUTHER KING III & FAMILY FOR MLK DAY PRESS CONFERENCE ON VOTING RIGHTS

On Monday,  the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will join Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King and Yolanda Renee King, as well as other elected officials and civil rights leaders at a press conference to discuss the critical need for action on voting rights legislation. The press conference comes as the Senate heads for a vote on the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act on Tuesday. Mr. King and others will call on the Senate to do away with the filibuster in order to pass this bill.

The list of speakers includes:

• Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi  
• Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus 
• Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), United States Congress
• Martin Luther King III, Chairman of the Drum Major Institute
• Arndrea Waters King, President of the Drum Major Institute
• Yolanda Renee King, Director of Youth Programming for the Drum Major Institute and Granddaughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King
• Rev. Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network 
• DaMareo Cooper Co-Chair of the Center for Popular Democracy 
• Kelly Robinson, Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Vice President of Advocacy and Organizing at Planned Parenthood Federation of America 
• Maria Teresa Kumar, President and CEO of Voto Latino  
• Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers 
• Becky Pringle, President of the National Education Association 
• Melanie Campbell, President and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation 
• LaTosha Brown, Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter
• Rahna Epting, Executive Director of MoveOn
• Donald Cravins, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Urban League
• Rev. Lis Theoharis, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign 
• Ramón Cruz, President of Sierra Club 
• Stephanie Young, Executive Director of When We All Vote 
• Taifa Smith Butler, President of Demos
• Virginia Kase Solomón, CEO of League of Women Voters 
• 
  

In the morning before the press conference, Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, Yolanda Renee King and representatives from partner organizations will join the D.C. MLK Holiday Committee for their D.C. Peace Walk: Change Happens with Good Hope and a Dream. The King family will not be formally speaking at the Peace Walk; however, media is invited to capture footage and photos of the family crossing the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge.

Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, and Rev. Al Sharpton will visit Capitol Hill and Meet With Lawmakers

On Monday, September 13th, 2021 Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, and Rev. Al Sharpton will visit Capitol Hill to urge congressional leaders to pass federal voting rights legislation and deliver an open letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell requesting a meeting to discuss the necessity of passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Restoration Act, the For The People Act, and the Washington, D.C. Admission Act.

During the visit, the Kings and Rev. Sharpton will meet with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. This visit comes as a follow-up to the August 28th March on For Voting Rights, which brought together 250 partners to hold 101 marches and activations nationwide, uniting tens of thousands of people in the fight against voter suppression. #VotingRightsMarch reached over 100 million people online.

At 2:45p.m., following the meeting with Sen. Schumer, the Kings and Rev. Sharpton will hand-deliver a letter to Senate Minority Leader McConnell before holding a press conference outside of the U.S. Capitol.