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Pelosi Op-ed on Dr. Martin Luther King Day

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today released for publication the following op-ed on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, which will be celebrated on Monday, January 16th. She discusses Dr. King’s commitment to social justice and how that vision should be carried out in a moral budget that meets the needs of all Americans. And as Congress prepares to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, we must to recommit ourselves to Dr. King’s vision to protect our fundamental rights.

Today, in Martin Luther King’s Name, Let Us Recommit to Casting Wide the Net of Justice, Ensuring Opportunity for All Americans

Thirty-eight years ago, in his final speech, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about his vision for America. He said, “I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”

This week, as our nation celebrates Martin Luther King Day, we note that his work is far from complete. Because of this, it is not enough to simply remember his ideals and his many accomplishments. We must adopt them and continue them. We must make them our own.

In 1965, Dr. King joined President Lyndon Johnson in the U.S. Capitol as the Voting Rights Act was signed into law. Almost 100 years earlier, our Constitution was amended to prohibit the denial of the right to vote on the basis of race. And yet, in the long years that followed, poll taxes and literacy tests, intimidation and violence deprived millions of African Americans this fundamental right.

Joined by the efforts of many brave Americans, some of whom made the ultimate sacrifice, Martin Luther King, Jr. demanded that the right to vote be protected and enforced. Because of the strength of their resolve and their unwavering commitment to justice, Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act, one of our nation’s most crucial civil rights laws.

But the elections of 2000 and 2004, with unmistakable evidence of voter suppression, had uncomfortable echoes to a past that should have been long left behind. In addition, President Bush’s appointees at the Justice Department have subverted the Voting Rights Act. Over the strong objections of non-partisan legal staff, the Bush Administration approved a voter identification requirement in Georgia that a federal court later likened to a “modern-day poll tax.” The Bush Justice Department also approved a discriminatory redistricting scheme in Texas – a scheme that the non-partisan legal staff unanimously found to be clearly illegal because it diluted the voting rights of minority citizens.

These challenges to our voting rights remind us of our collective responsibility and obligation to stand sentry against encroaching discrimination or the infringement of our rights. We must ensure that each election meets the aspirations of Dr. King, and recognizes his achievements that day in 1965 at the Capitol Rotunda.

Congress will soon vote to reauthorize sections of the Voting Rights Act. We must especially protect those voting in areas with a history of discrimination, and require bilingual ballots and voting assistance. We must have a thorough and independent investigation of the shameful politicization of the Bush Justice Department's enforcement of voting rights. Because every vote counts, and every vote must be counted.

Dr. King believed that the government had a fundamental responsibility to meet the needs of its people. That is why the federal budget should be a moral document – a statement of our national priorities and values. Unfortunately, this budget fails that test. This despicable budget makes student loans and health care more expensive for American families. It cuts funding for Head Start, even though now Head Start can only serve 60 percent of eligible preschoolers, and it freezes the maximum Pell Grant for the fourth year in a row, even though the cost of a public college education has skyrocketed by 34 percent since 2001. Every single Democrat in the House voted against this immoral budget because we know these are the wrong priorities for America.

In the tradition of Dr. King, leaders of religious denominations have led the fight to defeat it. They have told Congress that they are drawing a moral line in the sand against the Republican budget’s misplaced priorities. They have reminded us that the Bible teaches that to minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.

On Dr. King’s birthday, all Americans should be concerned that our economy is failing to meet the needs for so many in the African American community. For example, over the last five years, the number of African Americans living in poverty has grown by 18 percent; there are now 9.4 million African Americans living below the poverty line. Similarly, over the last five years, the number of African Americans without any health insurance coverage has grown by 11 percent – there are now 7.4 million uninsured African Americans. We must all work together to ensure that Dr. King’s vision of equal economic opportunity becomes a reality.

Dr. King spoke of the “fierce urgency of now.” He said, “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” Today, and in his name, let us recommit to casting wide the net of justice, and ensuring opportunity for all Americans. Let us finish his work, and let us finish it now.

Nancy Pelosi serves as the Democratic Leader in the House of Representatives. For the past 18 years, she has represented California's Eighth District. She is the first woman in American history to lead a major party in Congress.

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