Be Part of History

A message from Dennis Courtland Hayes of the NAACP.

Last week we joined hundreds of thousands of people across
the country celebrating the life and legacy of Martin Luther
King, Jr. Dr. King's message of equality, peace and social
justice is as important and as powerful today as it was 45
years ago.


I was lucky enough to attend the annual King Day at the
Dome event in Columbia, South Carolina, where we were
joined by the three leading candidates in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. NAACP is a non-
partisan organization, and we did invite the Republican
candidates, but none of them were able to attend.


A crowd of almost 7,000 listened while the three candidates
talked about what the legacy of Dr. King meant to them,
and afterwards the crowd marched to the State House to
demand that the Confederate flag be removed from the
building.


It was a truly perfect way to spend MLK Day - actively
participating in the ongoing struggle for equality. And over
the weekend, as South Carolina chose among the Democratic
field, we were reminded of another critically important way
that we can all participate: Use your vote; it's a right and a
responsibility.


If you're not registered to vote, you can click here to register
and register there, or you can call the National Voter
Registration Hotline at 1-866-MYVOTE1 (1-866-698-6831).
If you know someone who is not registered, please forward
this to them and encourage them to get registered.

Forty years after the hard-fought passage of the Voting Rights
Act, and 80 years after women's suffrage, the frontrunners for
the Democratic nomination are an African American man and
a woman. No matter what the outcome, this is already an
historic election. Make sure that you are a part of that history.


Stand up and be counted on Election Day.


Sincerely,
Dennis Courtland Hayes
Interim President & CEO NAACP