NAACP Launches America’s Journey for Justice
By Rowan Conybeare, a Summer 2015 Leadership Conference Education Fund Intern
At the Lincoln Memorial yesterday in Washington, D.C., the NAACP launched America’s Journey for Justice, an 860-mile march that will begin on August 1 in Selma, Ala., and end in D.C. on September 12.
The overall theme of the march, according to Cornell Brooks, president and CEO of the NAACP, is “our lives, our votes, our jobs, our schools matter.” That theme – one that focuses on the value of our lives and the importance of critical civil rights issues like voting, good jobs, and education – is particularly relevant this summer as the civil rights community pushes for legislation to restore the Voting Rights Act (which celebrates its 50th anniversary several days into the march), reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (or ESEA, also in its 50th year), and raise the federal minimum wage and ensure equal pay – among other issues related to good jobs and economic security.
More details will be available soon through the NAACP. You can also follow along on Twitter with #JusticeSummer.