面对参议院对立法的拖延，民权领袖发誓要继续向国会施压，要求其通过投票和选举法案，并尊重小马丁路德金的遗产。
对于周六将满 93 岁的已故民权领袖的儿子马丁·路德·金三世来说，随着周一纪念他的国庆节临近，“保护和扩大他父亲的遗产的风险再高不过了。”
“参议员现在面临着他们任期内最存在的选择之一：保护我们的投票权，或者作为压制选民的推动者而载入史册，”金上周在一份声明中说。
预计参议院将于周二审议投票立法，参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默此前曾承诺由小马丁·路德·金日投票表决。尽管这位纽约民主党人将 Covid-19 和即将到来的冬季风暴作为推动投票的理由，但民主党人在乔·拜登总统的压力下，正在拼命寻找通过立法的方法，同时在自己的政党中面临严峻的形势。
有影响力的温和派参议员乔·曼钦（西弗吉尼亚州）和亚利桑那州的基尔斯滕·西内玛（Kyrsten Sinema），两位长期以来一直表示反对改变阻挠议事规则的民主党人——这是让法案越过终点线所必需的——仍然不为所动。
金曾就这个问题与曼钦进行过讨论，但未能与西内马会面，他说他对参议员的立场感到失望。
他在周四的一份声明中说：“历史将不友善地记住 Sinema 参议员。虽然参议员 Sinema 仍然顽固地坚持她的‘乐观主义'，但黑人和棕色裔美国人正在失去投票权。” “她支持布尔康纳和乔治华莱士的遗产，而不是我父亲和所有为实现我们的民主而奋斗的人的遗产。”
CNN 已联系 Sinema 和 Manchin 的办公室征求意见。
Civil rights leaders keep pressure on voting rights in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy
Civil rights leaders are vowing to keep pressure on Congress to pass voting and election bills and to honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy, in the face of Senate delays on the legislation.
For Martin Luther King III, son of the late civil rights leader who would have turned 93 on Saturday, "the stakes could not be higher to protect and expand" his father's legacy as the national holiday honoring him approaches Monday.
"Senators now face one of the most existential choices of their tenure: protect our voting rights or go down in history as an enabler of voter suppression," King said in a statement last week.
The Senate is expected on Tuesday to take up the voting legislation, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had previously pledged to vote on by Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And though the New York Democrat cited Covid-19 and an impending winter storm as reasons to push the vote, Democrats are desperately searching for a way to pass the legislation amid pressure from President Joe Biden while facing grim odds in their own party.
Influential moderate Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, two Democrats who have long expressed opposition to changing filibuster rules -- necessary to get the bills over the finish line -- remain unmoved.
King, who has held discussions with Manchin on the issue but has not been able to secure a meeting with Sinema, said he is disappointed by the senators' stance.
"History will remember Senator Sinema unkindly. While Sen. Sinema remains stubborn in her 'optimism,' Black and Brown Americans are losing their right to vote," he said in a statement on Thursday. "She's siding with the legacy of Bull Connor and George Wallace instead of the legacy of my father and all those who fought to make real our democracy."
CNN has reached out to Sinema's and Manchin's offices for comment.
