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MLK Jr. backers march in Ogden, tout voting measures, Marshall White Center

By Tim Vandenack - | Jan 17, 2022
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Jamal Garden waves an African-American flag at a march in Ogden on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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Betty Sawyer, right, head of the Ogden chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and others march in Ogden on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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Participants in a march in Ogden on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day head from the Marshall White Center to the Ogden Amphitheater.
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Participants in a march in Ogden on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day head from the Marshall White Center to the Ogden Amphitheater.
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Betty Sawyer, right, head of the Ogden chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, speaks at the Marshall White Center before a march on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

OGDEN — It wasn’t just about remembering Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday.

Participants at a march in Ogden to honor the slain civil rights hero had a message to Utah’s legislative contingent in Washington, D.C. — pass two Democratic-backed voting rights measures.

“It’s not enough to say I support voters’ rights and not take a principled stand,” said Betty Sawyer, head of the Ogden branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which sponsored Monday’s activity marking MLK Jr. Day. She’s calling on lawmakers to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, aimed at shoring up voters’ rights in the wake of measures adopted in some states that critics say make it tougher to vote, particularly for people of color.

It was a message echoed by King’s son Martin Luther King III at an event in Washington, D.C., according to CNN. Whatever the case, both measures have considerable opposition from GOP lawmakers, which garnered a rebuke from Sawyer.

Some of those same Republicans had a hand in crafting the original legislation, Sawyer said, “and all of a sudden they’re saying it’s not everything I want.” She lamented a “disconnect” exemplified by the praise King generally garners across the political spectrum for his role in the civil rights fight and the uncertain future the two voting rights measures face.

Around 160 people took part Monday, marching from the Marshall White Center to the Ogden Amphitheater in the city center, where a number of speakers addressed the crowd, including Steven Richardson. He’s head of the Pi Xi Lambda chapter in Salt Lake City of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, a historically Black fraternity and organization.

Richardson noted changes over the years to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, civil rights legislation that helped lower barriers that had kept many people of color from voting in some states. The changes, he went on, have paved the way to laws in Georgia, Texas and other states that put a damper on voting rights.

“Fifty-seven years later, here we are, with less protection of voting rights than those guaranteed in the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” Richardson said, faulting a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling affecting some of the provisions of the 1965 measure. “That’s why a growing number of states without the federal oversight of the Voting Rights Act have gone rogue.”

More broadly, Amir Jackson of Nurture the Creative Mind, an Ogden organization that works with youth, touted King’s message of pushing for change. “Speaking of poverty is not enough. Speaking of love over hate is not enough,” Jackson said. “We must begin to act on that which we speak of and what we believe. Dr. King taught us that.”

Ronald Bridges of Ogden, one of the marchers, said his message in taking part is that the fight for civil rights and equality continues.

“The legacy of Martin Luther King is keep the fight, keep the fight going,” he said. “Equality, standing up for my rights and not getting shot by police. I fear for my life every day.”

Kevy Kev, pushing his year-old son in a stroller, noted the important role the Marshall White Center has had as a gathering spot and community center for Ogden’s small community of Black people. In the context of continuing debate over the future of the city-owned facility, his message was directed to city leaders.

“Update it, bring it back home. Give us back our community center,” he said.

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