Election Day on November 3rd may seem like a long way away, but voting rights activists in Pittsburgh are planning for it now.
The Pittsburgh Voting is Power coalition held a series of workshops and prayer services this weekend to encourage residents to protect their right to vote and commemorate the life of the late civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis.
Lewis, of Georgia, died six years ago this month after serving nearly 34 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He rose to prominence as a leader in the civil rights movement and for his role in organizing the 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 march from Montgomery, Ala. to Selma.
A nationwide weekend of action was held Friday through Sunday in his honor and to address what organizers called “the most brazen rollback of civil rights in generations.”
This comes a month after the Supreme Court declined to take up a case that could have restored anti-discriminatory provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The court also issued a ruling this spring experts say severely diminished the law’s ability to protect the collective voting power of racial minorities.
President Donald Trump gave a primetime address Thursday night promoting his SAVE America Act, which would create strict ID requirements for registering to vote or casting a ballot.
During a television appearance on Friday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Trump’s speech aimed to “suppress the vote, particularly in certain minority communities.”
The governor added that elected officials in Pennsylvania will “not let that happen” and ensure all voters can exercise their rights at the ballot box or through mail-in voting.
But some Pittsburgh leaders say additional precautions are necessary. During Sunday’s prayer service, Reverend Dale Snyder of Bethel AME Church in the Hill District said he was looking for poll chaplains who can help deescalate potential conflict or intimidation at polling sites around the Pittsburgh region.
“I’m asking you to stand with us at the polls to make sure everybody who shows up exercises their right to vote,” Snyder said.
The Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team has reached an agreement with a historic Black church to provide it with development rights to a 1.5-acre parcel near the church’s former property. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church’s old sanctuary was demolished along with much of the surrounding Black neighborhood during the 1950s as part of a now-lamented urban-renewal project.
Snyder and other speakers at Sunday’s prayer service encouraged others to make “good trouble” — how Lewis often referred to his work in pursuit of justice.
Lorraine Cook with the Black Political Empowerment Project called on attendees to “become an ambassador for democracy” ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
“When we preach democracy, we inspire action,” Cook said. “When we inspire action, we strengthen our communities. When we strengthen our communities, we honor John Lewis.”