Kalen Nicole

I began to play basketball in elementary school.  I was taught to shoot the ball with my elbow in. As I continued to play in middle school, shooting the ball correctly became second nature.  Even though it was a habit, that did not mean that I could stop thinking about it, or that I could just shoot the ball however I wanted. I had to remember the foundation of my learning.   Being able to build upon that foundation did not justify disowning it. Without a foundation and reinforcement, the edifice is sure to crumble. This principle also applies to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which provided the foundation to end racial disparity in the United States.  Last year’s Supreme Court decision to overturn portions of the Civil Rights Act cracks the foundation of American equality. According to the majority decision of Supreme Court Justices, adequate progress has been made in enforcing the voting rights of minorities, and a law is no longer needed to ensure these rights.

During the Civil Rights Era, minorities were denied many basic rights.  Although the 15th amendment prohibited states from using race to determine a citizens eligibility to vote, this regulation was not adhered to in many southern states.  The United States legislative branch decided new provisions were needed in order to enforce the 15th amendment, and in August of 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, prohibiting states from passing laws that would use race to infringe upon American citizens right to vote (“Voting Rights Act of 1965).

Unfortunately, we do not live in a post racial society.  Acceptance of diversity is at an all time high, especially among America’s youth, but there are still many deeply held convictions about racial differences and values.  Many consent with last year’s Supreme Court ruling that the context in which the Civil Rights Act was written is not applicable to this nation’s present condition and needs (Edwards).  Socially the United States has progressed since 1965, but that does not justify dissolving ourselves from the provision that made that progression possible.

Discriminatory patterns continue to shape American politics.  Talk of revising the Civil Rights Act coincided with the candidacy of President Barack Obama, the first biracial President of the United States.  This is a new era of gerrymandering, where the majority vote is being empowered through the disenfranchisement of the minority, for the most efficient way to secure an election is to restrict who votes in it. 

  Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required jurisdictions with a history of racial disparity to have preclearance from the federal government before instituting any modifications in voting procedures (Williams).  While elections are required to be accordance with the Constitution, subtleties discriminations are typically overlooked. Lauren Jones outlines several voting restrictions that were prohibited by the Voting Rights Act, but are now legal because of the last year’s judicial decision.  After the 2010 Census revealed that blacks formed the plurality of the voting age population in the city-county Augusta-Richmond Georgia, the state lawmakers enacted a bill moving elections from November to July when African American voter turnout was the lowest (Williams). Alaska in 2008 submitted a policy that would require some Native Alaskan voters to travel by plane or boat in order to vote (Williams). In 2004 in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, When Phuong Tan Huynh ran for city council against current member Jackie Ladnier.  Approximately 50 Asian American were challenged at the polls by Ladnier and his advocates, on the basis of if that voters who did not speak English well, it was plausible that they were not United States citizens (Williams). There are many more instances such as these that have taken away place within the last decade. The Department of Justice will no longer intervene in these cases. There is still a need for law that guarantees that the right to vote not be taken from America’s minorities. Without guidelines in place preventing this kind of behavior, how will American citizens be protected?  How will America remain a nation where everyone considered equal? 

Americans, especially minorities, should seek to reinstate the Voting Rights Act.  Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.”  It is not constructive to seek favoritism or advantages for minorities, just an equal opportunity to be heard.  An equal chance to vote, to take part in the process that prevents citizens from being ignored or abused by government (“Race and Voting in the Segregated South”).

Is this not what happened during the Civil Rights Era?  A group of people having been oppressed could bear no more.  A need was apparent, but ignored. In 1965 in Selma, Alabama, law officials halted a black voter registration campaign.  After the incarceration of protesting black teachers and 800 students, leaders of the voter registration organized a march to gain awareness for the lack of civil rights.  State troopers attacked the protesters after they refused to turn back after crossing the Edmond Pettus Bridge. Change was not instigated until after the violence from the Selma March was broadcast nationwide.  Three days later The Voting Rights Act was introduced by President Lyndon Johnson (“Race and Voting in the Segregated South”) Native Americans, Hispanics, Blacks, and low income families have long struggled in being able to exercise the right to vote, and the revocation of the Voting Rights Act just adds to obstacles faced by the disenfranchised. 

To live in a nation where the founding document reads that the truth is self-evident that “that all men are created equal, possessing the unalienable Rights, of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” and then to live as less than, due to factors completely out of one’s control is unacceptable.  Voting is the right and responsibility of all United States citizens. Fifty one years later, America is in a similar position with a choice to make. Now with there with higher representation of different nationalities and backgrounds, the stakes are higher. It is the combined effort of all people that makes this nation great.  The Voting Rights Act is necessary in ensuring the rights of minorities, and it will continue be necessary until the term injustice is no longer associated with race.

Originally written September 2014

Works Cited

Edwards, Barry C. “Formulating Voting Rights Act Remedies to Address Current Conditions.” American Politics Research 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 4 Sept. 2014.

“Race and Voting in the Segregated South.” Constitutional Rights Foundation. Constitutional Rights Foundation, June 2000. Web. 4 Sept. 2014.

” The Voting Rights Act of 1965.” Civil Rights Division Home Page. The US Department of Justice, n.d. Web. 4 Sept. 2014.

Williams, Lauren. “5 Terrible Acts of Voter Discrimination the Voting Rights Act Prevented-But Won’t Anymore.” Mother Jones. Political Mojo, 6 Aug. 2013. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.