by Rishi Awatramani
Almost 50 years after students and activists from around the country transformed Mississippi through an aggressive program of voter organizing during the legendary Freedom Summer of 1964, organizers from New York, California, and Florida will join Virginians in launching a new era of civil rights voter organizing this summer.
Saturday, July 16th marks the beginning of Southern Solidarity Summer, a program cohosted by Virginia New Majority and the Right to the City Alliance. From NoVA to the Tidewater, voter activists from around the state and around the country will organize voters to build deep democracy for all Virginians. For 5 weeks, these voter activists will go door-to-door to visit communities that have been most absent and excluded from Virginia’s pro-corporate political process. They’ll sweat through the hot Virginia summer to mobilize communities to take action, vote, and create the neighborhoods, cities, and towns where we can all thrive.
47 years ago, Mississippians were on the march. Committed freedom-loving people from around the country came to Mississippi to join thousands of residents in registering and educating voters across the state. Activists organized voter outreach programs, political education projects, literacy schools, health projects and more to begin the project of winning democracy for all Mississippians. After a century of slavery and decades of apartheid conditions, civil rights organizations in Mississippi were ready to turn years of grassroots organizing into a drive for deep transformation in the lives of everyday residents of their state.
Mrs. Annie Devine from Canton, MS traveled with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to Atlantic City, NJ to try and seat delegates at the Democratic Convention, because the party’s platform took their votes for granted and excluded the issues most important to them. When confronted with the dismissive attitude of party insiders at the convention and their demands of party loyalty, Mrs. Devine responded, “Politics must be corrupt if it don’t care none about people down there…these politicians sit in positions and forget the people that put them there.”
In 2011, Virginians face an uphill battle in their long march towards real progress and freedom: A seemingly endless line of pro-corporate political leaders that sell away human rights to the top bidder, discriminatory political district lines that prevent fair representation for communities of color, a worsening environmental crisis created by huge industries and their political allies, and an approach to economic repair that scapegoats immigrants rather than creating excellent jobs for working families.
In the face of such harsh conditions, brave Virginians and other activists from around the country, including Right to the City members from seven member organizations, are putting our state’s future back in the hands of its residents and back in line with the vision of Civil Rights. Progress, fairness, and real economic security are all at stake. Together we must make the South a beacon for freedom and solidarity once again.
Apply here to be a part of Southern Solidarity Summer!
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