Former NAACP political director and lifetime Civil Rights activist turned radio talk host Joe Madison announced on Monday he is going on a hunger strike to urge action on the Freedom to Vote Act the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Known as "The Black Eagle, he cited the 1877 Compromise as the point at which voter suppression began to hit Blacks and says he has not seen people this scared about it since the CIvil Rights Movement
For months Press Joe Biden's loyalty to Black voters ahve been in question as Civil Rights leaders have stressed the need to get the legislation to his desk.
LISTEN TO JOE MADISION ANNOUCE HUNGER STRIKE FOR VOTING RIGHTS
The Sirius XM Urban View talk host will not partake of solid foods unt until Congress passes, and President Biden signs both bills. Mr. Madision said his protest is in dissent to the political and moral wrongfullness of the voting bills being stalled in the Senate (since the House already passed both of them).
For Madison, voting is a matter of life and death. "Just as food is necessary to sustain life," he says, "The right to vote is necessary to substain democracy. I'm adamant about bringing attention to our plight about protecting voting rigths and I'm someone who care."
With regard to concerns about rising his health he said he is more concerned about what is going to happen to his children and the country than about his own health. Madison's message to Pres. Joe Biden is: "Get rid of the filibister. Don't compromise with our right to vote."
Rather than pushing to dissolve the filibuster fully, Pres. Biden recently said he would consider a fibilbuster carve out to pass the voting measures.
The current predicament with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, in particular, arose in 2015 when Republicans began to question its relevance in contemporary America. In 2013, in the case of Shelby vs. Holder the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a provision that effectively allowed the federal government to oversee changes states made to voting procedures.The Obama Administration attemtped to restore the Voting Rights Act to ensure "federal approval for voting procedure changes in some states." The effort was rejected and has not been rescusciated under Democratic dominance, leading many African Amerincans to beleive thye are being abandoned by Democratic leaders in the upper ranks. Numerous states have changed laws that could potentially jeopardize election integrity and further stifle Blacks access to the ballot box.
The White House says it is exhausting all options to protect vointing rights and have attemtped to no avail to assure Black Civil Rights leaders who have visited the White House to address the matter.
Joe Madison frequently asks his listeners, "What are you going to do about it?" The hunger strike is the answer he has chosen.