The Local Leaders Behind the Fight for Voting Rights in the South

Tune into my conversations with leadership and organizers from Stand Up Nashville during the first weekend of our 1,000 Miles to Memphis March

A crucial focus of our 1,000 Miles to Memphis March is elevating the organizations that have been doing the work of protecting voting rights on the ground, who’ve been showing the way, who’ve been trailblazing this path. During this past first weekend of the march, I had the opportunity to sit down with four incredible local leaders from Stand Up Nashville—a local organization building Black, brown, and working-class power through economic and racial justice. Their work is exactly why this march exists in the first place.

We’re walking 1,000 miles through the South this month—starting in Nashville and ending in Memphis at the end of August—alongside members of Just Win Humanity and organizers from across the country, to register 100,000 voters in response to the latest attacks on voting rights in this country. This April, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to gut Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, raising the bar so high for challenging racial gerrymandering that it strips away one of the last federal tools protecting fair maps and Black political representation—and the effects are already landing across the South. 1,000 Miles to Memphis is our response.

On the Ground with Stand Up Nashville

First, Odessa Kelly (Executive Director of Stand Up Nashville) on the gentrification pushing working-class Black Nashvillians out of the city.

And Cade Wooten (Community Organizer) on the Ask, Test, Organize model that builds people power from the ground up, and how it helped this team pass one of the strongest data center bans in the country.

As well as MCK (Deputy Director), on a city booming for developers while half of Nashville still can't earn a living wage—and why building a multiracial coalition is the only way to change that.

And Teka Moten (Leadership Coordinator), on the program training Black, brown, and immigrant leaders to sit on the 70-plus boards deciding Nashville's zoning, housing, and future.

Here’s Your Invitation To March For Voting Rights

From Nashville to Memphis, this march connects today's fight for voting rights to the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, labor movements, faith movements, and every generation that organized for the right to vote before us. Communities most impacted by attacks on voting rights should not be left to fight alone—and this march only works if more of us decide to show up for it, in whatever way we can.

If you are reading this, I ask you commit to at least one of the following.

ONE: Show Up. Walk a mile, a day, or a full leg of the route.

TWO: Donate. 1,000 Miles to Memphis is a project of Just Win Humanity—a 501(c)(3) public charity.

THREE: Register Yourself and Your Network. You do not have to be in Nashville or Memphis to register voters. You can do it right now, from wherever you are.

Follow the 1,000 Mile March to Memphis on Instagram for live content and daily updates: @JustWinHumanity. If you’re posting, use hashtags #1000Miles and #CourageNow on every post so our community can find you.

I will continue to provide updates as often as possible throughout this march. Thank you for your incredible and continued support. It is making all the difference in the world.

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Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, President of Just Win Humanity, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights and the accountability that corporate media refuses to provide. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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