THE RIGHT? TO VOTE - HOW TO LOSE THE RIGHT TO VOTE WITHOUT EVEN TRYING

At 55 I’m old enough to remember watching on TV on a beautiful sunny day, willows swaying lazily against the crisp spring breeze of May 1963. I could the faint sound of singing off in the distance; as it moves closer I can make out the words being song with determination getting ever stronger, “We shall overcome; we shall overcome some day… Soon after you see the column of young black children, some in their teens some younger. The fact that they are children is important. Children were picked for this task for a reason. They were innocents, they were children, and no one would harm children. So there they were walking down the street holding hands; clutching each other, with frightened but resolute looks on their faces singing “We shall overcome.”

The camera then pans away from the children 180 degrees to the south and you see a large crowd of angry whites, their faces are contorted, they are yelling ugly things at the children, their fists are raised and some are throwing eggs. The camera continues moving across the crowd and suddenly stops and focuses on a single white man wearing the uniform of a civil servant. He is a sheriff elected to protect the children marching toward him. Behind him stand a line of police some have night sticks, some have dogs, some carry water hoses.

Then; to my horror and disbelief, the unthinkable happens, as the children approach, the crowd grows more agitated, the sheriff puts the bullhorn up to his mouth and gives a warning, then and order and steps out of the way. First the water hoses, I see a wild burst of water push forth, and then I see the column of children fall to the ground stunned. Chaos erupts the children are splashing about trying to stand up, trying to continue, then the dogs are released as the children scream in horror, running every which way they are cut down with night sticks. The children are clubbed in their heads, arms, legs, the civil servants sworn to protect, beat the children with wild abandon. As the angry whites egg on the police and their black parents watch in horror and impotence.

I was only 11 years old when I witnessed this scene with the fear of a young girl watching a horror movie. My parents tried to explain that these children were fighting for me, for our right to vote, to attend any school we wanted, to eat and sleep where we wanted, live where we wanted all of this on the backs of children. Thankfully, the world had seen and heard, and miraculously had listened. Two years later, the congress passed and the senate ratified the National Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. § 1973–1973aa-6)[1] outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the United States.

The act was significant on many fronts, it not only gave blacks the right to vote but “the Act established extensive federal oversight of elections administration, providing that states with a history of discriminatory voting practices (so-called "covered jurisdictions") could not implement any change affecting voting without first obtaining the approval of the Department of Justice, a process known as pre-clearance. These enforcement provisions applied to states and political subdivisions (mostly in the South) that had used a "device" to limit voting and in which less than 50 percent of the population was registered to vote in 1964.

That “device,” sometimes took on the form of poll taxes, or having to pass literacy tests. Having to prove homeownership, or even having to prove that you could no longer bear children. So the 1965 Voting Rights Act was an important moment in Civil Rights history, with the key to actual rights to vote being the “pre-clearance,” requirement.

Fast forward to 2006, George Bush extended the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years. (Blacks in America do not have a permanent right to vote it has to be renewed every 25 years, and the right can be repealed) What was significant about 2006 was the objection of the republican congress to renew the primary premise of the act the “pre-clearance,” requirement. Republicans for the south cited that many of the discriminatory practices of the old Jim Crow south had long since ceased and no such requirement was needed. Plus the requirement placed an unfair stigma to the progress the south had made over the last 40 or so years.

The Republican objection is significant in light of what happened in 2004, black and Hispanic voters were targeted in Florida when thousand of voter were taken off registration list and were unable to vote because their name was similar to that of a convicted felon. Or in counties with high Hispanic voters denying bilingual ballots and requiring only English ballots. This election is no different the Republicans are on the move again an attempt is being made to take voters whose homes are in foreclosure of the registration lists again. In Michigan, and Ohio minority voters are being told, that if their home is in foreclosure they can not vote. Republicans are also trying to get poll locations changed at the last minute, and require proof of citizenship in order to vote. The pre-clearance requirement is what gives civil liberties groups the right to sue on behalf of those voters. It also requires that “any,” changes to voting rights given to American by law has to be ruled upon by the Supreme Court. Without the pre-clearance requirement the Voting Rights Act is just so much toilet paper.

What happened in 2006 should have been a wake up call for all of us; it was a direct assault on the voting rights of African Americans. It signaled a call to arms for Republicans everywhere to begin a continuous attack on the voting rights act. The Republicans have been ever vigilant while we have taken our eye off the ball. What’s happening in Michigan, Ohio and other battleground states is a sign that Republicans are going to continue to get the “pre-clearance” requirement repealed. If they are successful African Americans will have to fight for our right to vote all over again. An somewhere in the not to distant future another 11 year old girl may have to watch with horror as we send our children out to do what we should be have been doing all along, fighting to make the voting rights act a constitutional amendment, rather than a lease on freedom that comes up for renewal every 25 years.