The theme of the protest is “March On Washington: Defend The Vote.” It is being called by the Rev Al Sharpton and his National Action Network, Martin Luther King III, and other civil rights organizations.
“We endorse the march and we are sending a bus to the protest in Washington because we believe the right to vote is under attack and in grave peril today,” stated Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress.
“Democracy in the United States is in great danger because it is being undermined by the racist and fascist Trump administration, backed up by the right-wing dominated Congress, and supported by the ultra-conservative super majority on the Supreme Court,” Hamm said.
The POP sponsored bus is one of hundreds of busses from New Jersey, New York, and around the nation that will be journeying to Washington for the March. It will be leaving from Newark at 4:3Oam Friday morning.
The march is being held on the 63rd anniversary of the 1963 Great March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where the Dr Martin Luther King Jr gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.
That march was held on August 28th, the date in 1955 on which 14 year-old Emmett Till was murdered by white racists in Money, Mississippi.
This was just three months before the arrest of Rosa Parks and the start of the Montgomery Bus boycott which gave rise to the Civil Rights Movement.
More than 250,000 people attended the March On Washington that year. The following year the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed, and the next year the 1965 Voting Rights Act was passed.
“We must march because those rights, including the right to vote, which were fought for and paid for with lives, and blood, and sacrifices of many kinds in our lifetime are being taken away before our very eyes,” he said.
“Because of the Supreme Court decision in the Louisiana v Callais case we may end up losing as many as nineteen African American representatives due to racist gerrymandering.
“And now the Trump administration is attempting to restrict and stop mail-in voting in an attempt to steal the midterm congressional elections. The People’s Organization For Progress is absolutely opposed to any attempt by President Trump to interfere with, impede or stop mail-in voting,” he said.
While some POP members and supporters will be going to the march in Washington DC others will be rallying here at home for voting rights that same day.
A “Community Rally,” observing the 63rd anniversary of March On Washington will be held on Friday, August 28th, 5:30pm at the Somerset Municipal Complex, 475 Demott Lane, Somerset, New Jersey.
A key organizer of this event is author, activist, and educator Bill Davis, a member of the People’s Organization For Progress, and a leader of the group’s Central Jersey branch.
“We are having this rally to demand the abolition of ICE, economic justice, improved Black employment, an end to police brutality, end racist gerrymandering and redistricting, an end to the war with Iran, and reparations for African Americans whose ancestors were enslaved,” Davis stated.
The event is endorsed by Peoples Organization for Progress, March Forward, NAACP New Brunswick & Edison Branches, NJ Black Women, and MT Zion AME Church.
Finally, POP will continue the fight for voting rights after the events of August 28th.
The group will hold a forum entitled “The Attack On Voting Rights And The War On Black People,” Thursday, September 11, 2026, 7:00pm at New Hope Baptist Church of East Orange, 144 Norman Street in East Orange, New Jersey.
For more information on the POP bus trip to the March On Washington or the voting rights forum in East Orange call (973)801-0001. For additional information on the rally in Somerset contact Bill Davis at 732-647-8212.
