On
August 6th, 1965, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law to correct
“a clear and simple wrong,” as president Lyndon B. Johnson stated. “Millions of
Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color. This law will
ensure them the right to vote.” The legislation meant that the promise originally
enshrined a century earlier in the 15th amendment would finally be
realized. Jim Crow methods of
disenfranchisement, including literacy tests, poll taxes and others, were
eliminated preventing states from instituting shrewd policies to subjugate
voters of color. The law was seen as a monumental step forward towards racial
equality and freedom. Within three years of its passage black voter
registration increased significantly in the South to 62 percent, precipitating
an important shift in American politics towards a more inclusive and representative
government. Black legislators were increasingly put in office at both the local
and national level, culminating in the election of the first black president, Barack
Obama in 2008.
Unfortunately, the
progress initiated in 1965 has constantly been under assault. Since the passage
of the VRA a mostly conservative countermovement emerged seeking to legally dismantle
the most powerful tenets of the law, and negate the work of generations of
black politicians who have painstakingly toiled to increase ballot accessibility
by easing registration laws and allowing for increased early voting periods. In
2013, voting rights took an especially painful blow when in Shelby County V. Holder, the Supreme
Court annulled Section 5 authority of the VRA, which required federal approval
to all changes in state voting laws. The decision gave states the authority to
change their election laws as the please, fueling the countrywide rise in
restrictive voter I.D. regulations and significant
roll-backs in early voting, while leading many to define the last four years as
the worst period for voting rights since Jim Crow.
After the passage
of the VRA, the anti-voting rights movement became a centerpiece of the
thinly veiled and racially charged Southern Strategy started by Republicans to
court conservative white Southern Democrats into the party. As part of their efforts,
Republican operatives listed Section 5 as an “ultimate affront to states rights.”
With the the battle raging on into the Reagan years, conservatives upped their
rhetoric increasingly attacking Democrats for voter fraud in elections won by
black candidates, and legally challenging the drawing of minority majority
districts. Jump forward to the election of Obama in 2008, which triggered a GOP
backlash in which only “27% of Republicans believed he won fair and square,” and
prompted claims that a fraudulent black electorate was responsible for his
success.
In response to the
election of Obama, between 2010 and 2013 eleven states passed restrictive
voting laws paving the way for the Shelby
County decision, the ramifications of which were especially evident during
the 2016 Presidential election. In swing states that restricted their voting
laws, like Wisconsin and North Carolina, minority voters were especially affected.
In North Carolina black turnout reached a celling of 90% when compared to that
of the 2012 election, with some counties falling as low as 60% of the 2012
black turnout. In Wisconsin voter turnout
in the minority-majority city of Milwaukee was considerably decreased to 41,000
fewer votes than in 2012, with poor black voters particularly affected by new
I.D. laws.
The battle against
voting rights is another chapter in the history of white America’s unrelenting resistance
to black equality. While the VRA was a
significant boon to black political enfranchisement, the efforts to reduce its power
and restrict African Americans voting rights in recent years have dealt the bill substantial blows. It seems that politicians have yet to
realize that history never really leaves us, and that Civil Rights legislation,
no matter when it was passed, will always be pertinent to creating a nation where
all citizens are granted the same legal rights.[1][2]
W.C. : 650
[1] Jim Rutenberg, “A Dream Undone,” New York Times, July 29, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/magazine/voting-rights-act-dream-undone.html.
[2] Vann R. Newkirk II, “What Early Voting in North
Carolina Actually Reveals,” The Atlantic,
November 8, 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/north-carolina-early-voting/506963/.
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