For immediate release: March 11, 2014

Freedom Riders for Voting Rights and the Caravan for Democracy will hold a rally in Richmond, Virginia on Wednesday, March 12 – 9 am to 10 am at the Bell Tower on Capitol Square grounds

The Caravan for Democracy will stop in Richmond on Wednesday, March 12 to bring attention to increased voter suppression that resulted from the Supreme Court's 2013 dismantling of the Voting Rights Act and to announce a massive voter registration drive that will result in one million new voters nationwide by March 2015, the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches.

The S.O.S. (Saving OurSelves Movement for Justice and Democracy is asking organizations and groups across the country to adopt the "Marching to Selma’s 50th: 50 Cities/50 Cars/50 Voters At A Time" campaign as part of their local drives to educate and register new voters.  

From Richmond VA, the caravan will go to Washington, D.C. to rally at the U. S. Supreme Court and the Capitol.

Moderator:  Del McWhorter, Vice-Chairperson of Virginia Organizing

Speaker:  Senator Henry L. Marsh, III

Senator Marsh is a civil rights lawyer.  In 1977, he was elected by the city council as the first African-American mayor of Richmond.  He was elected to the Senate of Virginia in 1991, and has been re-elected ever since.  He currently represents the city of Petersburg, Dinwiddie County, and parts of the city of Richmond, and parts of Chesterfield and Prince George counties. 

Speaker:  Senator Donald McEachin

Senator McEachin is an attorney and serves at the chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus.  He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1996 and served until 2001 when he gave up his seat to run for the Democratic nomination for attorney general.  In 2005, he was re-elected to his former seat in the House of Delegates and in 2007, he was elected to the Virginia State Senate.

S.O.S speakers:

Bernard Simelton, Alabama State NAACP

Johnny Ford, Mayor of Tuskegee, AL

Faya Rose Sanders, Founder, Selma Voting Rights Museum

Speaker:  Sylvia Woods, President, Richmond NAACP Branch

Closing speaker:  Ms. Thomasine Wilson, State Governing Board member, Virginia Organizing

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Selma-to-Washington, DC Caravan Leads Call to

Restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act

Virginia Organizing will host local stop in Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, VA — The Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, commemorating the 49th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in 1965, is kicking off a yearlong voter education and registration campaign in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision that dismantled a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The Saving OurSelves (S.O.S.) Movement for Justice and Democracy, a regional association of 40 organizations and activists, is organizing the Marching to Selma's 50th: 50 Cities/ 50 Cars/ 50 Voters At A Time campaign that began on Monday, March 10 with “The Caravan for Democracy: From the State Capitols to the Nation’s Capitol,” following culminating activities on Sunday, March 9, after the annual pilgrimage across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.

S.O.S. organizers and activists say there is nothing to celebrate if the unequivocal right to vote, without voter suppression tactics, is not fully restored, in honor of those who were jailed, beaten, tear-gassed and killed to win voting rights for all citizens. The Marching to the 50th's two-fold campaign includes bringing attention to increased voter suppression that resulted from the Supreme Court's 2013 dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, and organizing participation in a massive voter registration effort that will result in at least one million new voters nationwide by March 2015, the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches.

The Caravan for Democracy will stop for rallies at state capitols in Montgomery AL, Atlanta GA, Columbia SC, Raleigh NC and Richmond VA. Participants can join the caravan from these cities along the way, as well as those who travel from other cities and states, to converge in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, March 12, at the U.S. Supreme Court and then march to the U.S. Capitol. The march will culminate in a rally that protests the Supreme Court’s adverse decision on voting rights and urges Congress to fully restore the Voting Rights Act.

For more details about the campaign, visit www.sosmovement.net/marching-to-the-50th/ or text "selmajubilee" to 72727. For media interviews, contact Vickii Howell at 205.566.3131 or email vickii.howell@gmail.com.

For more information about the Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma and related events at www.bcjubilee.org/, or contact Connie Tucker, admin@bridgecrossingjubilee.org.

To interview a spokesperson for Virginia Organizing, please contact Joe Szakos, Executive Director, at

(434) 984-4655 x222 or (434) 981-0855 or szakos@virginia-organizing.org.

Virginia Organizing is a non-partisan statewide grassroots organization that

brings people together to create a more just Virginia.

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