Marchers mark voting rights anniversary

ATLANTA — Thousands of marchers joined icons of the civil rights movement Saturday morning in the streets of Atlanta to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and to build support for extending protections from that bill.

"Keep hope alive: Extend the Voting Rights Act," chanted Jesse Jackson, president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and a march leader. He was joined by former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and Rev. Joseph Lowery, the former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Jeanetta Williams, president of the Salt Lake branch of the NAACP, said she hopes the anniversary will remind people of the struggles others have made for the right to vote.

"This is not a time for celebration but a time to reflect on those 40 years," Williams said. "With all that has been done to ensure African Americans the right to vote, it is embarrassing that only 30 percent actually vote."

The landmark law, several sections of which are set to expire in 2007,helped transform U.S. politics and led to rising numbers of minorities being elected to govern. But some conservatives have suggested that parts of the law are no longer necessary, especially the section that requires nine states and parts of several others, mainly in the South, to seek federal approval of voting rules changes. That section also mandates that states draw minority-controlled congressional districts if black and Hispanic voters dominate certain residential areas.

Some conservatives have also signaled that they hope to change a provision in the bill that requires election officials to assist immigrant voters who do not speak English by providing them with voting material in their native language. The provision, however, is not widely challenged because it benefits Asian Americans, Latinos, Armenians and others on both sides of the political divide.

The marchers Saturday also were protesting a new Georgia law that strictly limits which photo identification can be used by voters at the polls. March organizers estimated the crowd at a post-march rally at 10,000 to 15,000 people and said they hoped many of the more than 100,000 people attending a spiritual gathering led by a television evangelist, Bishop T.D. Jakes, would join them. Entertainers at the rally included Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack and Willie Nelson.

"Voting rights cuts to the core values of this nation. Not only is it important that African Americans have the right to vote, but it is important that all Americans be concerned that our rights be protected," Jakes said in an interview Friday.