WASHINGTON (10-20) – With the Capitol as a backdrop today, activists held a “Jan 6 Justice: Our Freedom, Our Vote!” rally in support of democracy and in holding Trump and his MAGA Republican followers responsible for engaging in the violent criminal conspiracy they initiated to overturn an election they lost.
Their willingness to engage in violence to see that they stay in power must not go unchallenged. The groups were coherent in their demand that “We want accountability for Jan 6 and the ongoing attacks on our freedoms. We must protect our elections – the voters, the election officials and a free and fair process.”
The timeliness of this – just three weeks before the upcoming mid-term election – is particularly important especially so as it has now been reported that in some states voters and election officials are already being threatened and intimidated. A democracy can only exist in an open and free environment in which all participants, regardless of their political affiliations, can participate by casting their vote without disruption. The entire voting process is a sacred and fundamental right over which much blood and many lives have been lost during the course of our history.
The right to vote should never be a pawn for political predators to game in favor of their party or candidate. As the groups proclaimed, “In America, voters decide elections.”
The rally opened with US army veteran Naveed Shah of Common Defense speaking of his time in the military when he came upon the realization of how sacred our right to vote is. Then, “… when I saw what happened here in this very spot at our Capitol on January 6, 2021, I was more than shocked and appalled, I was scared. I was scared that if we allow the big lie and insurrectionists to take power, not only will it undermine the very core principals of our democracy, but we know that their end goal is to attack our civil liberties and our freedom. Human rights are on the ballot in November.”
Joseph Geevarghese from Our Revolution related that “The January 6th committee told us what we already know: That Donald Trump and his allies engaged in a criminal conspiracy and attacked the US Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power.” He went on to relate how the committee is not able to prosecute those connected in the conspiracy but that responsibility to “prosecute” the insurrections and hold them accountable is enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.
Specifically, Section 3, says in part, if anyone who has previously taken an oath of office “…to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.” Therefore, Geevarghese said that Trump along with all the others who fall under the “oath of office” purview should be disallowed from ever holding office again.
Our revolution has been calling on secretaries of state to remove the names of insurrectionists from ballots and are calling upon the Department of Justice “to prosecute these criminals.” Allowing that process to take place however can be lengthy so the best way in which to disqualify those implicated is at the ballot box by voting against them, illustrating once again just how important voting is on so many levels in protecting our democracy and freedoms from such egregious attacks.
Martin Luther King III also spoke at the rally and in his opening remarks reflected that “Most of us could not have imagined a year would have come, January 6, 2021, where citizens of America came and attacked their house of government.” He went on to call the insurrectionists and the attendant violence at the Capitol that day “unacceptable.”
“Mostly what I am saying though is that when evil occurs, good people must come together to stand up and stomp that evil out.” He further stated that a “minority” of Americans are trying to superimpose their views upon the majority and followed with “And that is why it is so critically important to vote. Twenty states have passed laws that make it harder to vote. In my own state if you give somebody water standing in line, that is a crime and you will be given a ticket. That is egregious that a nation that is supposed to be about freedom would say that someone who has to stand in line for hours, you can’t give them water.”
“We must all stand up to make sure democracy is preserved for all people. We have a daughter Yolanda Renee King … did you know that in 2008 when she was born, she had more rights than she has today. The beginning of rights being diminished was in 2013 when voting rights were diminished by the United States Supreme Court. And then this year reproductive rights were decimated by the Supreme Court. This is one of the reasons every election is important.”
In closing, he reminded everyone that “Voter-less people are power-less people. It is time to come together for unification.”
Report and photos by Phil Pasquini
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