Who cancelled the buses to D.C. march?

By Betsey Piette

Philadelphia

Hundreds of activists, including many college students, woke up early on Aug. 28 in order to board buses heading to Washington, D.C., for a march to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The event was called to push demands to protect voting rights, and for economic justice, affordable housing and equal opportunity for Black, Brown and other oppressed people.

In locations in and around Philadelphia, buses were expected to arrive at 5:00 AM. After waiting for half an hour, organizers at several sites where buses were expected began making calls, only to discover similar problems in other cities, including Detroit, Houston, Cleveland and towns in Ohio and Chicago.

According to organizers with the National Action Network which had pre-paid for the charter buses, someone had abruptly cancelled them with no notice given to organizers, leaving would-be participants stranded.

Rev. Jerome Fordham, president of the Philadelphia Chapter of NAN told the Philadelphia Tribune: “We are discouraged, but we are not despondent.  But this should not have happened.” Fordham said NAN paid for the buses in advance and did not authorize the cancellations. (Aug. 28)

“There was a mix-up all right,” Fordham told the Tribune. “An intentional mix-up.”

While offering no proof, Fordham said: “I think that someone deliberately bought out NAN’s contract and offered double or triple the amount that they paid for the buses. Someone with a strategic plan.”

Among those left stranded was WWDB radio host Thera Martin Connelly, who told the Tribune that around 40 NAACP members, plus students from Cheyney and Rutgers universities planned to make the trip: “People were disappointed. Like, what happened?” Connelly said, but “after hearing it wasn’t just in our city, that really makes you wonder if this was orchestrated or planned.”

Parking permits denied

Jermaine Anderson, Executive Director of a Chicago-based program working with young Black men, told Chicago radio station WBBM: “On the day of departure we received a text message, less than two hours away from the scheduled departure time, not to report to our busses because the busses were not being allowed into the city of Washington D.C because of permitting issues.”

A similar issue regarding permits impacted buses from Indiana. Regulations regarding whether or not buses need permits to enter D.C. are somewhat vague.  However, if this was the case, the organizations renting them should have been advised in advance, especially when they paid for the buses.

The Kansas City Concerned Clergy Coalition reported on Facebook that its Tennessee and Mississippi buses were cancelled by the bus company. Earlier in the week they learned that parking permits for buses in D.C. were cancelled.

The Coalition’s organizers reported that they are looking into what happened, but say: “fingers are being pointed at the Trump Administration. We must be prepared for the unexpected in the coming months before the mid-term elections.”

All evidence suggests that the coordinated cancellation of chartered buses and parking permits is part of a long, historical pattern of racist voter suppression perpetrated from the very top of government.

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