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 From The Desk Of
Ron Walters
Columnist Page
Friday, March 11, 2005; Page 20
Renewing the Voting Rights Act
Let me sign on now to the Campaign of Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., to obtain one million signatures to give to Congress and the president to renew the Voting Rights Act by August 6 for its 40th anniversary.
This campaign was introduced at the 40th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama. The location was chosen because it was the scene of unspeakable brutality against civil rights workers, which flooded into the living rooms of millions of Americans through television sets and created the sentiment for the passage of a new civil rights act. The consequences of Bloody Sunday were acts of personal and collective responsibility, unrecognized by many who call for that today. In fact, the Black liberation movement that comprised movements for civil rights and others proposing more systemic change were filled with such acts of personal and collective responsibility that went unnoticed. But Bloody Sunday was noticed and it has lived as a symbol of a people’s movement that sought to acquire the unfettered right to vote as a civil right.
The launching of a million signature campaign for the renewal of the VRA is a brilliant idea by Rev. Jackson begun early enough to begin the campaign for the renewal of the act because important provisions of it expire in 2007. Let’s be clear, this year is the 40th anniversary of the act, but important provisions of it expire in 2007. This is because the VRA, though passed in 1965 was amended in 1970 and 1982 and some of the provisions added in 1982 were to remain in force for 25 years.
I will keep writing about this because there is a lot of confusion about it in the Black community. On many talk shows, I encounter people who think that the voting rights of Black people will end in 2007. That is not so because the right of Blacks to vote was enacted by the 15th Amendment to the Constitution passed in 1870. It says “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This amendment remained in force until the Civil Rights Movement and many Blacks voted in northern elections (some in southern elections) during that time. But most Blacks, especially in the South, were still excluded from the polls. The Voting Rights Act was passed as a modern enforcement measure to open up voting to all Blacks.
I am suggesting that people go to the website (civilrights.org) to get accurate information on which provisions of the VRA will come to an end ion 2007 if they are not renewed. One of these provisions is Section 5, which called on the states covered by the act in 1965 to submit all changes to their electoral systems to the Justice Department. Another of the 1982 amendments mandated bilingual translation of voting materials and assistance at the polls. Another provided the Justice Department with the authority to send federal voting examiners into states to monitor elections.
In light of what happened in 2000 and 2004 in Florida, Ohio and other states, it is clear that not only are these provisions needed, there needs to be some action eliminating the exclusion of convicted felons from voting. There are cases now in the court that ask the question whether excluding felons from voting does not constitute a “voting requirement” or test that was outlawed in Section 4 of the VRA. Although the Supreme Court recently refused to hear such a case, it will come again. It should also be considered as an added measure in the renewal of the VRA.
Let us join Rev. Jackson's campaign. Get the petitions from his website (rainbowpush.org) or call his offices in Chicago or Washington, D.C., and let’s get going.
Dr. Ron Walters is Distinguished Leadership Scholar, Director of the African American Leadership Institute and Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland College Park. His latest book is: White Nationalism, Black Interests, by Wayne University Press. |
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