Let's recap:
In the summer of 2013, in a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court
eviscerated a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requiring that
several whole states and parts of several others "pre-clear" any changes
in their voting laws.
Let's go back to
Bloody Sunday
On "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965, some
600 civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma on U.S. Route 80. They
got only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge six blocks away, where state
and local lawmen attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas and drove
them back into Selma.
The events of “Bloody Sunday,” led Congress
to enact the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA).
The voting rights bill was passed in the U.S. Senate by a 77-19 vote
on May 26, 1965. After debating the bill for more than a month, the U.S.
House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 333-85 on July 9.
Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, with Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders present at the ceremony.
The act banned the use of literacy tests, provided for federal
oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50 percent of
the nonwhite population had not registered to vote, and authorized the
U.S. attorney general to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and
local elections (in 1964, the 24th Amendment made poll taxes illegal in
federal elections; poll taxes in state elections were banned in 1966 by
the U.S. Supreme Court).
Fast forward to the
50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday
Rep. John Lewis said this year's 50th anniversary of the
Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march should reflect the dignity of
the original event, which is why he arranged for President Obama to
visit the day before local officials in Alabama hold their
commemoration.
The result will be two marches in Selma — one on
Saturday, March 7, with Obama, Lewis and a record number of
congressional lawmakers, and one on Sunday, March 8, run by local
leaders.
Local Alabama politicians have objected. They say the
anniversary has always been held on a Sunday because March 7, 1965, when
protesters marching for voting rights for blacks were clubbed and tear
gassed by police, is known as Bloody Sunday.
Compromise Complete?
Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, one of the key proponents of the annual
Selma events, said groups involved in planning the 50th anniversary of
the historic day have agreed there would be one march this year and it
would begin on the day it is traditionally held, Sunday.
Sanders said his initial concern was that there would be a march on Saturday or other competing marches.
"What I was trying to do was make sure the march on Sunday was sacred
and that it is going on," said Sanders, who along with several other
public officials raised the concerns in a State House news conference a
month ago.
So what brings
George W. Bush, and the
GOP to
#Selma after they've done everything they can do to
keep minorities and women from voting?
Republicans have been working hard to drum up attendees for the Selma march.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy,
R-Calif. are not attending. Rep. Martha Roby, R-AL, said she is working
to get more of the GOP to join her at the commemoration.
"My motivation is my love for the state and the importance and
significance of this anniversary," Roby said in a recent interview. "I
want as many of my colleagues (as possible) to be a part of that. The
civil rights movement belongs to everybody. It's not a Republican or
Democratic issue."
Mission Accomplished thanks to
President Barack Obama and Representatives
Terri Sewell and John Lewis.
Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell of Birmingham and GOP Rep. Martha Roby
of Montgomery, are co-hosting the pilgrimage and helped recruit members
to attend. Leaders in the Senate include Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Tim
Scott, R-S.C.
The organization's annual trip to Alabama is led by
Alabama native and Democratic congressman John Lewis of Georgia, who was
among those beaten during the 1965 march.
Lewis, in a recent interview, said he was happy to see greater interest from Republicans this year.
This
bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all elections, federal,
state and local, which have been used to deny Negroes the right to
vote.
This bill will establish a simple, uniform standard which cannot be
used, however ingenious the effort, to flout our Constitution. It will
provide for citizens to be registered by officials of the United States
Government, if the state officials refuse to register them. It will
eliminate tedious, unnecessary lawsuits which delay the right to vote.
Finally, this legislation will insure that properly registered
individuals are not prohibited from voting. I will welcome the
suggestions from all the members of Congress--I have no doubt - See more
at:
http://www.blackpast.org/1965-president-lyndon-baines-johnson-voting-rights-act#sthash.76dsg6Zy.dpuf
What a difference
three years makes in
Sweet Home Alabama.
This
bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all elections, federal,
state and local, which have been used to deny Negroes the right to
vote.
This bill will establish a simple, uniform standard which cannot be
used, however ingenious the effort, to flout our Constitution. It will
provide for citizens to be registered by officials of the United States
Government, if the state officials refuse to register them. It will
eliminate tedious, unnecessary lawsuits which delay the right to vote.
Finally, this legislation will insure that properly registered
individuals are not prohibited from voting. I will welcome the
suggestions from all the members of Congress--I have no doubt that I
will get some--on ways and means to strengthen this law and to make it
effective. - See more at:
http://www.blackpast.org/1965-president-lyndon-baines-johnson-voting-rights-act#sthash.76dsg6Zy.dpuf
