SAN FRANCISCO — SEIU Local 1021 will hold a “Defend the Vote” rally outside San Francisco City Hall on Thursday, Oct. 22, from noon to 2 p.m., honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement while encouraging participation in the Nov. 3 election.
The gathering will commemorate King’s historic 1963 March on Washington and recognize generations of Americans who fought for voting rights. Union President Theresa Rutherford and Social and Economic Justice Committee leader Phelicia Jones are calling on community members to attend.
“The right to vote was fought for over generations and we must protect this right,” Rutherford said. “We will not back down in the face of a fascist government that seeks to take away all of our hard fought civil rights … so to make that commitment we are gathering at San Francisco City Hall to defend our vote and invite the public to join us too.”
Jones pointed to the violence endured by civil rights activists during the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project, also known as Freedom Summer, when organizers faced arrests, beatings, bombings and killings while working to expand Black voter registration.
“That’s what my ancestors had to endure for the right to vote,” Jones said. “Let us not forget Bloody Sunday, the March from Selma to Montgomery on March 25, 1965. I fight because my father was born and raised in Selma, Alabama.”
Jones said her commitment to voting rights is rooted in her father’s experiences and the sacrifices made by previous generations. “I not only fight the injustices for my father in remembrance of him, but also for the people. All power to the people,” she said.
The rally is scheduled ahead of the Nov. 3 election, with organizers inviting San Francisco residents, union members and the broader public to gather at City Hall in recognition of the continuing importance of voting rights.
Defend the Vote rally: Thursday, Oct. 22, noon to 2 p.m., outside San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. Open to the public.
