DC Vote Joins Over 100 Partner Organizations For the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 23rd, 2023
PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]
Washington, DC – DC Vote, the nation’s leading advocacy and educational organization dedicated to DC Statehood, along with Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and Arndrea Waters King today announced more than 100 organizations across racial, cultural and generational lines have joined the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington. Hundreds of thousands of people have been mobilized in the weeks leading up to the large-scale demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial on this Saturday, August 26th, which will not serve as a commemoration but a continuation of what started in 1963.
“DC Statehood is an issue that crosses intersectional lines including the freedom to vote, the freedom to determine one’s own destiny, racial justice, economic justice, employment discrimination, access to abortion, and the growing assaults on the rights of women, LGBTQ Americans, immigrants, people of color, and democracy,” DC Vote’s Patrice Snow said. “It is sad that some 60 years after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘s call for justice and jobs that we are still fighting for these same rights. DC Vote will be there proudly representing the disenfranchised 700,000 Americans who call Washington, DC home but don’t have full voting rights.”
Newly released data from the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), a partner organization, shows economic conditions are as bad — if not worse — for Black and Brown Americans as they were 60 years ago. The median wealth gap between Black and white households has widened by $40,000 over the last 60 years, from $121,000 in 1963 to $161,000 today. Student debt, which overwhelmingly hits Black Americans harder, is a driving factor for this yawning gap – with limited relief in sight after the Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s plan to wipe as much as $20,000 per borrower. This new data comes amid the backdrop of Florida’s relentless attempts to erase Black history from the classroom, as other regions of the country look to follow suit. Gov. Ron DeSantis and state leadership have not relented on a new, warped curriculum promoting a false narrative that Black people benefited from slavery.
That same Court has peeled back rights on LGBTQ Americans, women, voting rights, and organized Labor in the last decade. All the while, hateful rhetoric has led to violent attacks Black, Brown, Jewish, AAPI and other historically marginalized Americans. All of these alarming issues speak to the dire threats democracy in the United States faces today.
The pre-program for the event will begin at 8:00 a.m. ET with the main event beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. Following the program, a march will begin through the streets of the Nation’s Capital, culminating at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
A full list of partners can be found below:
Advocates for Youth
African American Mayors Association
All Souls Movement
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated
American Federation of Teachers
Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
APIAVote
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC
Atlas Strategy Group
Austin Justice Coalition
Bayard Rustin Liberation Initiative Inc
Bet Mishpachah, DC’s LGBTQ+ Synagogue
Brown and Gold PAC – Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Incorporated
Capitol Ballroom Council, inc.
Center for American Progress
Center for Black Equity
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Center for Reproductive Rights
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Change Administration (Lincoln University of PA Student Government Association)
College Democrats of America
Common Defense
Community Justice
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI)
DC Vote
Declaration for American Democracy Coalition
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated
DemCast USA
Democratic National Committee
Emerge
EMILYs List
ERA Coalition
Everytown For Gun Safety
FairVote
Family Equality
FPWA
Generation Ratify
GLAAD
GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD)
Good Trouble Think-Tank
Higher Heights for America
Hip Hop Caucus
Human Rights Campaign
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women Reproductive Justice Agenda
Interfaith Voices for Reproductive Justice
Japanese American Citizens League
Keshet
LatinoJustice PRLDEF
League of Women Voters
NAACP
NAACP LDF
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC)
National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)
National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP)
National Council of Asian Pacific Americans
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)
National Immigration Law Center
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund
National Organization for Women (NOW)
National Organization of Concerned Black Men Inc.
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Queer API Alliance (NQAPIA)
National Urban League
National Women’s Law Center
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Next Generation Action Network (NGAN)
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates
Our Time to Act United
Oxfam America
PFLAG National
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Reproaction
Sanctuary of Hope LA/ March 4 Equity
SEIU
Shaare Tefila Congregation
SisterReach and SisterReach Illinois
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Southern Poverty Law Center
Stand Up America
Student Debt Crisis Center
Students Learn Students Vote Coalition
The Arc of Justice
The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus
The House of Garcon
The Jews of Color Mishpacha Project
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
The Phoenix Affect
The TransLatin@ Coalition
The Uniters
The Workers Circle
UNIDOS
United by Equity
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
Virginia Moms for Change
Voto Latino
We Testify
YWCA USA
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated
###