Voting Rights, the Perpetual Revolution

In Atlanta on Saturday, some 100,000 people marched and rallied to remember the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and to demand that provisions up for renewal be not only renewed but strengthened.

The rally,underreported as usual in the U.S. media but featured by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! Monday, came at a time when another underreported story emerged---written evidence that the Supreme Court candidate, John Roberts, was a vocal and active opponent of a vital interpretation of the act when it was questioned early in the Reagan administration.

"The 40th anniversary of this act comes amid the recent release of memos written by Supreme Court Justice nominee John Roberts from his days as an aide in Ronald Reagan's Justice Department. At the time the House had overwhelmingly passed new provisions strengthening the Voting Rights Act. The memos reveal that Roberts strongly advocated a policy that would curtail the reach of the law. The policy would have barred only voting rules that intentionally discriminated, as opposed to barring rules that have a discriminatory effect." Amy Goodman said, and then asked NAACP lawyer Debo Adegbile several questions about this.

Adegbile pointed to several lawsuits in Florida attacking at-large districting that “tend to submerge minority votes. In a winner-take-all majority-rule situation, if there are no districts to give effect to separate voices within a community, then minority votes are going to be submerged.” One lawsuit in St. Petersburg under the Voting Rights Act contends “that the at-large system in St. Petersburg has the result of discriminating against the city’s minority voters, and if they can make that proof, they prevail. Had John Roberts’ view of the world prevailed, they would have been required to show that the at-large system was intentionally designed to limit minority voters’ voices, and that, of course, for obvious reasons is a much higher threshold.”

Goodman asked about how other minorities are affected by the Act---a key point---and Adegbile pointed to a similar suit in Osceola Florida, which the Bush Justice Department itself has joined, alleging that Latino voters were having their votes submerged in exactly the same way.

“So what the Voting Rights Act is is an integrated minority protection system, and for that reason, all of the expiring provisions need to be renewed. And in the events in Atlanta, we saw people of all races and ethnicities coming together for the same purpose.”

This of course becomes more important as the US becomes more diverse. For now, however, it is still the African American leadership that is keeping this issue alive, partly by remembering its own history. So the rally was heavy with references to Martin Luther King, Jr. and all the martyrs of the Civil Rights 60s, as the march was led by Jesse Jackson and John Lewis.

But there are new issues within the issue, and again it is black leadership that is insisting that voter intimidation and election fraud not be forgotten, especially because virtually all of the proven, likely and alleged destruction of voting rights and the vote’s integrity were directed at keeping black voters from voting and having their votes counted.

And there was recognition that the emergence of anti-black black Republicans needs to be met head-on by a new generation of leaders of color.

“If we are to avoid the strange fruit of powerlessness, we have to pass the torch of leadership to a new generation of young, strong, uncompromising tree shakers,” said one of those emerging leaders, Rep. Cynthia McKinney. “…today we are here to demand our due: Life, liberty, and the right to vote on machines that we know will accurately count our vote. And on this, we will not be hoodwinked, snookered, bought out or even bushwhacked. “

For more on Democracy Now! interview
For a rundown on the voting rights provisions coming up for renewal, this Center for American Progress report