VOTING RIGHTS ISSUE 2005

Thousands Walk To Save Voting Rights

BY DAVID STOKES

Collage Photos: Keep the Vote Alive! - Nearly 20,000 local and national advocates of the Voting Rights Act descended onto downtown Atlanta demanding federal government officials reauthorize the Act's provisions set to expire in 2007. Shown above, along with marchers trekking from Spring Street's Richard Russell Federal Building to Morris Brown College's Herndon Stadium at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Vine Street, are (left to right) Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, founder and president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition; U.S. Representative Maxine Waters of California, U.S. Representative John Lewis, an original 1965 marcher with Reverend Hosea Williams for Blacks' voting rights that led to the infamous Selma to Montgomery march; Andrew Young, the former U.N. Ambassador and Atlanta mayor who also served as SCLC's executive director to Martin Luther King, Jr.; legendary singer Harry Belafonte, an activist who participated in the Selma to Montgomery march with Sammy Davis, Jr., Charleton Heston, Diahann Carroll and other entertainers, and the inimitable Stevie Wonder./PHOTOS BY JOHN B. SMITH, JR.

The sweltering heat and humidity of a recent Saturday afternoon could not have been planned more perfectly as the backdrop to determination and response of late when many local and national activists, celebrities and mothers and fathers in tow with their children came together in downtown Atlanta as individual protest to call for the reauthorization of key provisions of the historic federal Voting Rights Act.

From the Richard B. Russell Federal Building on Spring St. to the Herndon Stadium on Morris Brown College’s campus, the two-mile trek of young and old and rich and poor was intended to serve notice for President Bush and U.S. Congress to “renew and strengthen” provisions of the Act guaranteeing African- Americans, in particular, the right to vote without being subjected to discriminatory practices with registering to participate within the electoral process.

The march and rally was held on Aug. 6th, exact date of the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act’s signing by President Lyndon B. Johnson, following activists’ emphatic call for the right to vote for blacks after the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965. The Act and its provisions were last extended in 1982, by President Ronald Reagan, and is due to expire in 2007. President Bush stated months ago “not (being) aware” of the Act needing renewal, thereby, precipitating a “call of conscience” by the human rights community.

Amid the estimated ten to 15,000 marchers, “we have a splendid coalition right here to protect and preserve the right to vote today,” professed Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the organization who co-sponsored the event along with the Ga. Coalition for the People’s Agenda, SCLC, AFLCIO, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), National Education Association and other social advocacy groups.

With a stage cluttered with elected officials, entertainers such as Harry Belafonte, Willie Nelson and John Legend, and leaders of civil rights— Jackson, Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, president emeritus and co-founder of SCLC; Bruce Gordon of NAACP and SCLC President Charles Steele, Jr. among them—messages were loud and clear that renewing the Voting Rights Act’s provisions not only sustains blacks’ right to vote but ensures voting “tests or devices” not to hender one’s right to cast ballots and, according to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, “promotes basic fundamental democracy” in America.

“The right to vote is at the heart of our democracy, yet, this all-important right is not explicitly granted to individuals in the U.S. Constitution,” Rev. Jackson said during a premarch and rally news conference. “While our military is fighting for democracy in Iraq, it is incumbent upon us to do everything we can to preserve it here at home. In Iraq, women and minorities are protected, but here at home, we still are fighting to achieve those same protections ...with states’ rights, a crazy quilt of 50 unique, different regulations, requirements and restrictions.”

Controversy erupting pertains to three specific provisions of the Voting Rights Act set to expire year after next. Mandated as a “pre-clearance” provision, Section 5 requires jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to receive approval from the Department of Justice prior to changing voting practices and procedures. Other sections of the Act authorize the federal government to send election observers to sites where evidence of intimidation exists, as well as makes certain municipal governments provide materials and other assistance to voters of a bilingual nature. States fully protected by the Act are Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, Tenn., Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. Parts of Virginia, California, Fla., Michigan, New York, North Carolina and New Hampshire are also included.

“Our mission here today on the 40th anniversary of the signing of the most impactful legislation of the century is more about who this nation is than who we are,” proclaimed Dr. Lowery, one who helped lead 1965’s march, and appointed by SCLC Founding President Martin Luther King, Jr. to meet with then-Gov. George Wallace to discuss demands from fellow Alabamians of color seeking the right to vote.

Lowery implored, “We are they who marched across the bridges and highways for the right to vote; we are they who suffered wounds from snarling dogs to remove segregation from public accommodations; and we are they who now have cause to raise the question about whether you are the America of 1965 ...who had a president leading the Congress and the nation to remove unconstitutional barriers and restrictions on the right to vote for people of color ...proclaiming, ‘We Shall Overcome’. We are concerned because we have seen the right to vote guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and protected by the Voting Rights Act sabotaged and violated. We have seen forces that mounted efforts to deny our vote and failed, nevertheless, conspire to fail to count our vote. A vote not counted is a vote denied! We know who we are ...but who is this America sending its sons and daughters to die in faraway land to empower faraway people to cast and count their votes and then passes legislation to restrict voting of the mothers, grandfathers, sisters, brothers and cousins of these brave soldiers (at home)? Something is wrong with America when a handful of people have more than they ever need while millions have less than they always need. Come home America to who you are; Save the Voting Rights Act! Come home, America.”

“We have to make certain the Voting Rights Act is protected and preserved, or without it, the race baitors and discriminators will keep up illegal activities,” said John Sweeney, president of AFLCIO, while pledging “full support and renewal to fully participate in our democracy” of the Act.

Still reeling from the last presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, Cong. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) appeared to “speak truth to power. Today, we remember what they did to us in Fla. and Ohio. We want the enforcement and strengthening of the Section 5 (of the Act). We’re here to take on (President) Bush, (Vice President) Cheney, (U.S. House Speaker) Tom DeLay and (Supreme Court nominee) John Roberts.

“We’re all here, prepared to do battle to take back our ability to vote in every town, suburb and state.” Legendary singer Stevie Wonder, prior to doling out his new “What the Fuss,” stated, “We need to demand we have a bill to guarantee every citizen the right to vote, and to secure that right forever. I challenge all politicians, leaders and clergy to take the position that every American has the right to vote ...when we’re (required) to pay taxes and fight in war.”

“The civil rights movement is still alive and well,” declared SCLC’s Steele. “Who would have thought we’d still be fighting for (protecting) our right to vote? We still need to raise hell and go to jail to demonstrate for our rights!”

“Once again, we’re demanding the fair and unabridged right to vote. The same thieves that stole the last presidential elections will continue to rip us off,” stated Judge Greg Mathis. “I’m calling on them for federal rehab. The U.S. Supreme Court was the accomplice to the biggest election crime in history. Now, it’s criminal for them to enrich their friends with no-bid contracts for the (Iraqi) war to fight for democracy in Iraq. The enemy of our progress and our democracy has missed — and now we’re coming back to fight for affordable healthcare, equal education and take back Congress.”

“We won’t let the Voting Rights Act be taken away from us,” said Bruce Gordon, NAACP’s new president and chief executive. “We call on the Justice Department to reject some of the most repressive laws (to hamper voting rights).”

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, The People’s Agenda’s Lowery wrote to ask DOJ officials “to deny pre-clearance of (Ga.’s voter/ID legislation) ..., (stating) the “law is simply unnecessary, discriminatory and violates the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) ..., violates the state’s and U.S. Constitution ...., and acts as a barrier and impediment to voting and recreates old ‘Jim Crow” poll tax burdens.” Gonzales and John Tanner, chief of Justice’s Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section, are slated to render approval or denial by Aug. 12th.

From an original marcher who was beaten and nearly clubbed to death on Selma, Ala.’s Edmund Pettus Bridge by Alabama state troopers on Sun., Mar. 3, 1965: “Let’s keep (our) eyes on the prize! Don’t give up 40 years later,” exclaimed U.S. Rep. John Lewis, then chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). “The Voting Rights Act was good in 1965, and it’s good in 2005. We’re being too quiet with this administration. We’ve got to talk back to the Bush Administration. Keep your eyes on the prize!”