VOTERCADE AND CELEBRATION VILLAGE FOR VOTING RIGHTS

A VOTERCADE AND CELEBRATION VILLAGE FOR VOTING RIGHTS and the National John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Action Day will take place starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 8, 2021. Meet at the Country Fair Shopping Center where the Votercade will commence. The Votercade will end at Lincoln Square Mall at 3 p.m., where there will be speakers, music, food, and celebration. To join the Votercade, go here:https://bit.ly/3xw9197.

A coalition of seven Champaign-Urbana organizations plus the City of Urbana plan on May 8 to join over 100 other cities nationwide in running “Votercades” in support of the national John Lewis Voting Rights Action Day. The purpose of the Votercades and Day of Action, named for the late civil rights leader, is to promote voting rights reforms nationwide and defeat the voter suppression efforts sweeping the country. 

“Voting is very sacred to us,” says Minnie Pearson, president of the NAACP Champaign County branch. “We've fought for this all our lives, for Black and Brown people to participate fully in the vote. We will not go back willingly to the way things were.” 

The John Lewis Day of Action plans to bring awareness to S1 and HR4, two bills that aim to expand the people’s voting and civil rights by eliminating the new crop of voter suppression laws, outlawing gerrymandering, and restoring the Justice Department pre-clearance requirement for new voting laws in states with a history of voter suppression. 

“John Lewis and over 500 marchers endured dogs and hoses when they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge for voting rights,” says Pearson. “They withstood all that so we could have the voting privileges we have today. We need our elected officials to understand that no matter what they do, we will remember, and we will go out to vote.”

The local May 8 Day of Action will include the Votercade, starting at Country Fair Shopping Center at 1 p.m. It will arrive around 3 p.m. at Lincoln Square Mall, where there will be a Celebration Village with speakers, music, and food. Speakers will include Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin, Champaign Mayor Deb Feinen, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, and NAACP Chapter President Minnie Pearson. Dr. P and his Hip Hop Bus will be providing music. To join the Votercade, go to https://bit.ly/3xw9197. 

Sponsoring this event are CU-Bend the Arc Jewish Action, NAACP Champaign County Branch, League of Women Voters of Champaign County, When We All Vote Champaign County, CU Moms Demand Action, First Followers CU, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter, and the City of Urbana.