In March 1870, the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed. It’s purpose was to prevent any citizen’s right to vote could not be taken away based on their race. Shortly there after in the Compromise of 1877, the infamous Jim Crow Laws were introduced. These laws were barriers at the state and local level that prevented African Americans from voting.
On this date, August 6, 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act guaranteeing fair, free, and open elections regardless of the voter’s race. Yet, here we are where the Supreme Court in 2013 and again last month rules against the 1965 Voting Act. The court upheld two Arizona election rules the Democratic National Committee claimed discourage minority voting.
It could reasonably be argued that Chief Justice Roberts’s 2013 ruling gutted the Voting Rights Act’s Section 5 unleashing states to impose new voting restrictions designed to discriminate. The court’s ruling last month could trigger a new round of states engaging in imposing a wave of voter-suppressing laws.
What a mess!! It isn’t known yet how these ruling will play out. What is known is that this past year and half made it painfully clear some of the very institutions designed to keep neighborhoods and communities safe and healthy are failing People of Color. Closing with this quote from Malcolm X seems appropriate: “We need more light about each other. Light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience, and patience creates unity.” e pluribus unum
