Mayor Vincent Gray will travel to New Hampshire to testify in front of the state legislature about voting rights in the District on Thursday, and so will Occupy the Vote DC, according to a spokesman for the protesters. Gray’s representatives did not return calls for comment by press time Monday.
But Occupy DC media organizer Sam Jewler said several Occupy the Vote DC members, Councilman Michael Brown and members of the activist group DC Vote all plan to be in attendance. There’s no word on whether Gray plans to use city funds to pay for his trip.
Brown’s spokesman, David Meadows, said the city wants to gauge support for D.C. statehood around the country and is looking to meet with various state legislatures on the issue.
Jewler said several officials in the mayor’s office — including Gray’s director of community affairs, Stephen Glaude — have expressed support for Occupy the Vote DC, which grabbed headlines in December for a series of high-profile hunger strikes advocating for District voting rights. But he said the Occupiers have never spoken directly with Gray and added that the mayor didn’t invite the group on the trip.
The protest group hopes to take advantage of the media attention surrounding the state in the week of the Republican primary, Jewler said. The New Hampshire state legislature has been supportive of D.C. voting rights in the past, he said. Members of the group from Occupy the Vote DC plan to turn their New Hampshire visit into a road trip, visiting several other Occupy sites — including groups in Boston, New York and Philadelphia — to discuss their campaign.
“I think it’s something that a lot of people in the Occupy movement would want to get behind, because it’s a direct instance of a lack of rights for 600,000 Americans,” Jewler said.
Five Occupiers are set to make the trip, Jewler said, including Adrian Parsons, who went without food for 25 days on an Occupy the Vote DC hunger strike. The group has also begun an online petition drive and is encouraging supporters to embark on 24-hour “solidarity strikes” for the cause.
