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Congresswoman Nikema Williams Delivers Floor Speech on the Urgent Need to Pass Voting Rights Legislation

Jan 13, 2022
Press
Protecting Voting Rights

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) delivered a speech on the Floor of the House of Representatives on the importance of the House Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act. Click here for a video of her Floor Speech. Her remarks as prepared for delivery are below. 

Thank you, Mister Speaker.

Today I rise to share the words of my constituent, Yolanda Renee King:

“I am 13 years old and the only grandchild of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. When I was just five years old in 2013, the Supreme Court undid the Voting Rights Act that my grandparents and so many in their generation fought and died for.

“When I was 12 in 2021, the Supreme Court further weakened the law until there was almost nothing left. States like my home state of Georgia were ready and waiting — they immediately passed laws that make it harder for people to vote, make it impossible to protect elections and even criminalize the act of passing out food and water to people who wait in long lines.

“That means I and my peers have fewer rights today than we had the day we were born. I can only imagine what my grandparents would say about that!

“We must pass federal voting rights legislation now to ensure democracy for all Americans. We cannot wait.”

I yield back.

CONTACT: PressGA05@mail.house.gov 

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