CHICAGO, April 4 (UPI) -- As African-Americans marked the 37th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination, two national black leaders called for a push to protect voting rights.
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said Jackson would lead an Aug. 6 march and rally in Atlanta and Farrakhan would commemorate the 10th anniversary of the historic Million Man March Oct. 16 in Washington to press Congress to reauthorize the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act is set to expire in 2007.
"Just before he was assassinated, Dr. King convened a multi-religious, multi-racial group for a Washington, D.C., march to force Congress to change its priorities," Jackson said at a weekend forum with Farrakhan at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago. "We must take our civil rights back to the streets."
Farrakhan said African-Americans must be activists in the fight for jobs, healthcare and education.
King was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis.
