CWA Activists on 'Journey for Justice' Urge Elected Leaders to Restore Voting Rights

More than 300 CWAers were among the hundreds of activists who stormed Capitol Hill yesterday, calling on members of Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act.

It was the end point of "America's Journey for Justice," a 1,000-mile journey from Selma, Ala., to Washington, D.C., to focus attention on the damage done to voting rights and our democracy by the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court's Shelby County v. Holder decision. That decision has allowed states to erect barriers to voting and restrict access to polling places. The Journey was organized by the NAACP, CWA, the Democracy Initiative and other allies.

More than 1,000 activists rallied in front of the U.S. Capitol, and heard from civil rights and union leaders, people of faith, public interest groups and many members of Congress on why we must ensure the right to vote for all.

"Brothers and sisters, are you ready to do what we have to do to make sure that we fix the Voting Rights Act? CWA and our 700,000 members will be with you until we get that right back. We will not rest until we all have the right to vote," said CWA President Chris Shelton.

CWA President Chris Shelton fires up the crowd at the voting rights rally.

Nine CWA buses brought activists to Washington, D.C., from Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey and other locations; other CWAers marched to the rally wearing CWA red and chanting.

Kobi Gore of CWA Local 3603 in Charlotte, NC, said she came to stand up for the right to vote, because she herself was blocked from casting her vote. Sent from one polling station to another, she said, "By the time I got to the destination where they said I could vote, I was told that it was too late. I was so upset."

Everybody needs to be able to vote without all these obstacles, said Diane Bailey, president of CWA Local 4310 in Columbus, OH. "There's no way I can sit by and watch us regress. If my grandkids don't have school they're usually marching with me. I have to continue the fight for them."

Minerva Faire of Local 3106 in Jacksonville and a friend from another union left her home at 12:30 a.m. to drive to Washington. "Today, we're talking about everything that matters: jobs, justice in voting, fairness. It's what we talk about in our union and with our NAACP allies," said Faire, who is co-chair of the Florida NAACP Labor Committee and chair of the labor committee for the NAACP's Jacksonville branch.

Robert Patterson, a member of IUE-CWA Local 82160 in Christiansburg, VA, boarded the bus with other IUEers at 3 a.m. and arrived in time for the start of the rally. Afterward, he and co-workers went to lobby on Capitol Hill. "I'm here to support the right of everybody to vote. I'm from North Carolina and I've seen what can happen when voting rights are attacked. We need to stop it now," Patterson said.

Left: Robert Patterson, IUE-CWA Local 82160. Right: Minerva Faire, CWA Local 3106.

Jean Fremont of CWA Local 1040 in Trenton, NJ, said, "I am here today to mobilize millions for democracy. We're all here to fight for the right to vote, because the people elected make decisions that affect all our lives."

On Capitol Hill, CWA District 6 Vice President Claude Cummings joined NAACP President Cornell Brooks and AFSCME President Lee Saunders in meeting with elected officials, starting with Rep. John Lewis (D-GA 5th District). Lewis is the legendary civil rights activist who was nearly killed during the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL, 50 years ago, that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.,) meets with CWA District 6 VP Claude Cummings, AFSCME President Lee Saunders and NAACP President Cornell Brooks.

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Virginia CWAers are ready for a meeting with Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and staff.

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Also joining the rally: CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens; District 4 Vice President Linda Hinton; NABET-CWA President Charlie Braico; and Vera Mikell, At-Large Executive Board member and executive vice president, Local 2205.

Members of Congress speaking at the rally included Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Jeff Merkeley (D-OR), and Mark Warner (D-VA), and Reps. John Conyers (D-MI 14th District) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX 18th District). Participants also included former CWA President Larry Cohen, chair of the Democracy Initiative; Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP; other NAACP leaders, and leaders from Sierra Club, Greenpeace and Common Cause and other organizations.

See more photos here.

It was a sea of CWA red, with members from Texas to Ohio to New Jersey rallying together outside the U.S. Capitol. North Carolina members made the trip too, and many came from nearby Virginia, D.C. and Maryland locals to take a stand for the right to vote.

Check out more stories and photos here.