Radio Host Joe Madison Goes On Hunger Strike To Push Congress Into Passing Voting Rights Bill
Radio Host Joe Madison says he’s going on a hunger strike until Congress passes a voting rights bill.
The acclaimed host of SiriusXM Urban View made the announcement on his website in reaction to Senate Republicans blocking the beginning of debate on a voting rights act named after late civil rights icon and congressman John Lewis last week.
“As a political protest, I am beginning a hunger strike today by abstaining from eating any solid food until Congress passes, and President Biden signs, the Freedom to Vote Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” Madison said on his website. “And I repeat, just as food is necessary to sustain life, the right to vote is necessary to sustain democracy.”
The bill gained the support of Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia, but didn’t reach the 60 votes it needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.
“It is what drives me and inspires me,” Madison told his listeners on Monday (November 8). “So I have begun this hunger strike, I should say this, in solidarity – let me repeat, in solidarity – with all those who are calling on Congress and the president of the United States to protect our voting rights.”
He added: “I am here to say, at some point we’ve got to change these moments into movements. And the difference between a moment and a movement is sacrifice. And although this is a moral as well as political cause for me, it is a component of a much larger movement.”
Listen to Madison’s comments below.
