The planned March On for Voting Rights in Houston has been canceled due to COVID concerns. Officials are following the advice from the CDC, Houston and Harris Public Health, and Discovery Green.

The right to vote has always been something worth fighting for Americans. From the early years when only white male property owners could vote to today's time when people of every gender, race, and creed are able to vote. With every step forward taken to advance the political scene of the country, there were those trying to take the right away. Now on the 58th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic 1963 March On Washington Americans stands ready to fight again as Republican lawmakers from state-to-state try to enact voter suppressions laws.

Houston was one of the sites chose to host a March On for Voting Rights on Saturday, August 28, 2021 at 10am at Discovery Green but the march has cancelled due to COVID concerns. According to MarchOnforVotingRights.org, 146 partners have joined the nationwide march just as Republicans have blocked the Senate from discussing voting rights legislation before leaving for the August recess. Furthermore, there are over 400 voter suppression bills being proposed around the country. Some civil rights leaders who have signed up for the march include Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King and Reverend Al Sharpton. They will lead marches in Washington, D.C., Houston, Miami, Atlanta, Phoenix and more than 40 other cities around the country to demand Congress eliminate the filibuster to pass voting rights protections. The march is funded through the #ForJohn campaign, a grassroots effort co-founded by Martin Luther King III and Arndrea King to fight voter suppression and fund the participating organizations.

“When my father delivered his historic ‘I Have A Dream’ speech to a quarter of a million people in Washington, D.C., Congress could no longer ignore calls to action for voting rights,” said Martin Luther King III, Chairman of the Drum Major Institute. “Congress must act with the same urgency as they did in 1964, because without real, timely action to pass national voting rights legislation, the voting rights and very lives of Black and Brown people in this country are on the line. I’m proud that we have a powerful coalition fighting to save our democracy, but we cannot out-organize these attacks. Thousands of people will march on August 28 to show the urgency of this moment, but then it’s up to Congress to eliminate the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation.”

“As we recently witnessed the 56th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, it is time for us to come together as partners and march again for the rights of the people,” said Reverend Al Sharpton, President and Founder of National Action Network (NAN). “We have to remain vigilant and continue bending the ‘arc of justice’ Dr. King so eloquently dreamed about many years ago. I applaud those that have joined and partnered with our movement, answering the call to defend democracy in America.”

“In the original 1963 March on Washington, only one woman addressed the crowd,” said Arndrea Waters King, President of the Drum Major Institute. “Our diverse coalition fighting for voting rights in 2021 showcases the breadth of Americans who are most directly impacted by voter suppression legislation — women of color, queer people, people with disabilities, and all the intersectional ties between these communities. We’ve come a long way since 1963, but we’re still locked in this existential battle to protect our most sacred right to vote and we must act now. This is the most urgent civil rights battle of our lifetimes, and we invite all Americans who believe in democracy to march with us on August 28.”