Washington, DC – Today, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund (LDF) joins the America’s Journey for Justice March as it embarks on its final leg into Washington, DC after beginning six weeks ago in Selma, Alabama. Sponsored by the NAACP, the theme of the 1000-mile march is “Our Lives, Our Votes, Our Jobs and Our Schools Matter.” LDF is a proud partner of the March.
From August 1 to September 16, America’s Journey for Justice embarked on an historic march by foot from Selma, Alabama, to Washington, DC, mobilizing activists along the way to advance a national advocacy agenda that protects the right of every American to a fair criminal justice system, equal access to the ballot box, sustainable jobs with a living wage and equitable public education. Today, the march reaches Washington, DC, and tomorrow, marchers will be visiting Congress.
“This march should be a wake-up call for Congress,” says Leslie Proll, Director of LDF’s Washington office. “America’s Journey for Justice focused–in a powerful and sustained way–on inequalities in voting, education, jobs and our criminal justice system. Now, our attention turns to Capitol Hill, where we call upon lawmakers to eliminate these persistent disparities, starting with restoration of the Voting Rights Act.”
“Today’s march to Washington, DC comes at a time when Congress is determining the future of the country’s most important federal education bill, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA),” says Janel A. George, LDF Senior Education Policy Counsel. “Our 50-year history of federal accountability in promoting access to quality educational opportunities is now at risk with the current ESEA bills. As Congress makes final decisions on the future of our children’s education, we urge it to keep accountability in the form of supports and services, and not sanctions, in the ESEA.”
America’s Journey for Justice unites partners from the civil rights, social justice, youth activism, democracy reform, faith, labor, corporate and environmental communities to call for justice for all Americans under the unifying theme “Our Lives, Our Votes, Our Jobs, Our Schools Matter.” More information can be found here: http://www.naacp.org/ajfj
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The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is not a part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) although LDF was founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. Since 1957, LDF has been a completely separate organization. Please refer to us in media attributions as the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund or LDF.