This year, our daughter, Yolanda Renee King, the only grandchild of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, will vote for the very first time. This 18-year-old is exercising her rights just as the current administration works to challenge and rewrite them.
Young people, women, and marginalized communities are caught in the crossfire, with President Donald Trump on the attack. She and millions like her are in the fight of their lives to vote! First, President Trump’s efforts to change how voter eligibility is verified and how mail-in ballots are handled could create additional obstacles for voters who rely on mail ballots, including college students like Yolanda, who left Georgia to attend college in New York.
Then there’s the SAVE America Act, which passed the House in February by a vote of 218 to 213, and would require documented proof of citizenship, such as a U.S. passport or qualifying birth certificate, to register to vote. Experts warn this could create additional hurdles for people whose current legal names do not match their citizenship documents, such as married women who have changed their names. As Yolanda's parents, we have always stressed her autonomy, especially over her own body.
We are appalled by legislation in individual states that could decide women's reproductive rights. This is an attack on bodily autonomy itself. It is clear to us that President Trump's actions validate what Dr.
King taught us: freedom is never really won, and the fight never ceases. Instead, it evolves and is reimagined for a new generation. As a country, we are tired.
Actually, we are past tired. We are exhausted, and it makes no sense that we must fight again to restore rights our own mothers and fathers already fought for. But exhaustion is not defeat.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
