John,
Too often, our understanding of American history reads like a timeline of dates and historic events. And too often, this view ignores the pain and suffering that paved the way to each milestone.
That's what's on my mind tonight as the nation marks the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — as I sit here recalling the painful African American history that preceded it.
I'm thinking about the late Congressman John Lewis. I'm thinking about the marchers in Selma. I'm thinking about that moment at the apex of the bridge when the realization set in that there's no escaping imminent violence and possibly death. The bridge was too high to jump and survive. Onward, they marched.
I'm thinking about the Jim Crow-era literacy tests that were designed to disenfranchise Black voters. Thirty questions long and getting only 10 minutes to complete, these tests were written to be failed. I'm thinking about what it would have been like after enduring slavery and being denied opportunity and education to have this question stand between me and my vote: “Write right from the left to the right as you see it spelled here.”*
As I commemorate the anniversary today, I am also thinking about how I belong to the first generation of Black people in this country to be born with the right to vote free from intimidation.
While literacy tests and poll taxes are now illegal, the effort to limit the political power of Black Americans is alive and well.
Today, 55 years after the Voting Rights Act, the right to vote is still just a theory for millions of people in the United States.
It’s more than a little ironic that Constitution-loving Republicans are now the very ones to disenfranchise Black voters.
What does that look like today? How about:
- President Trump claiming without evidence (i.e. LYING) that mail-in voting leads to widespread fraud (Aug. 4, 2020)
- Closing all but ONE polling location in the Kentucky county with the largest Black population (June 23, 2020)
- Cutting the Census 2020 a MONTH short which disproportionately undercounts people of color (Aug. 3, 2020)
- And continuing RACIST practices like gerrymandering, voter purging, voter ID and other unnecessary restrictions (ongoing, 2020)
Here are a few suggested actions you can take on this anniversary and in honor of the life and legacy of the late Representative John Lewis:
Thank you!
—Amaya
Amaya Smith
Vice President
*Take the Impossible “Literacy” Test Louisiana Gave Black Voters in the 1960s, Slate, 2013
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