The Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission
906 Broadway Suite 100 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
DuShun Scarbrough, Agency Spokesman
(501) 683-1300 or (888) 290-KING
dushun.scarbrough@arkansas.gov
The Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission announces initiatives commemorating the 55th Anniversary milestone of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission welcomes Angela Harrelson, aunt of the late George Floyd, to Arkansas as the keynote speaker for the 2020 “GET OUT TO VOTE” Statewide initiative, Saturday, June 27, 2020, 5:00 - 6:30 PM, Hot Springs Farmers Market, 121 Orange Street, Hot Springs, Arkansas 71913. The program will include nonpartisan voter registration and information to commemorate the upcoming 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The event will take place outdoors and is free and open to the public.
CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.
In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama. That day ended in violence, however, it set the foundation for the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
There are many advantages to partnerships in the community, especially in the area of community awareness. As a state agency organized to teach Arkansans about the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Commission honors this historic event by cordially inviting the public to assist us by participating in our 2020 Statewide Mass Voter Initiative G.O.T.V. (Get Out to Vote). The Commission will launch G.O.T.V. – “Get Out to Vote”, a nonpartisan, cooperative initiative to register more voters in response to recent reports of low voter turnout in local elections.
“Grandma once said, if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. Therefore, it’s time for a change,” says DuShun Scarbrough, Executive Director of the Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission. The “Get Out to Vote” campaign will be a nonpartisan collaborative effort to encourage citizens to vote or get registered to vote to commemorate this great and important event in history. We will host outreach programs and initiatives in all four congressional districts of the state. Dr. King, once said, “the most important step we can make is that short walk to the ballot box.” Well-spoken by Dr. King who walked fifty miles from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights with thousands from across the country.
This will be one of several events the Commission has planned to commemorate The Voting Rights Act of 1965 which applied a nationwide prohibition against the denial or abridgment of the right to vote. The Act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.
The Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission welcomes Angela Harrelson
His name was George Floyd. In life, he was a single father of three, stood six feet, seven inches tall, and had just moved to Minneapolis to start a new life. His death sparked protests, discussions of race relations, and community interactions with law enforcement around the world. Floyd was laid to rest in Houston, Texas next to his mother.
Angela Harrelson is the maternal aunt of the late George Floyd. Harrelson talked to Floyd regularly after he moved to Minneapolis.