“Some had to pay fees. Some were tested. Many people died for that right. It is too important for us not to vote, and if we want to have a democracy, we need to participate in it. We can’t hope that situations will change. We have to be active in helping candidates get elected who will create that change,” said Lex Scott, the president of the Black Lives Matter Utah Chapter.
In 1965, Lewis and fellow activist Hosea Williams led what was planned as a peaceful 54-mile march through Alabama from Selma to Montgomery. The march, a protest of the discriminatory practices and Jim Crow laws that prevented African Americans from voting, would be remembered in history as “Bloody Sunday,” one of the most dramatic and violent incidents of the American Civil Rights Movement.
In recent years, the spate of homicides linked to questionable uses of deadly weapons and/or force, have prompted many activist organizations to call for racial reparations. From Trayvon Martin’s death in Florida, to Michael Brown’s in Missouri, Eric Garner’s in New York and many other deaths — a chorus of calls for reparations has mounted, even attracting interest among presidential candidates.
Across the country, an estimated $5.5 billion in HUD funding is awarded each year. Nearly two-thirds of these funds go to approximately 1,210 grantees through HUD’s Community Development Block (CDBG) Grant program. With this year’s rule suspension and continuing for several years, grant recipients – largely state and local government jurisdictions — can obligate their allocations without any concern for compliance with the Fair Housing Act rule.
Fifty years after his assassination, some of these barriers have fallen _ but others remain.
This week in Black History.