Again. And you thought this was settled back in 1964. Nope. We’re still fighting for the right to vote thanks to the Conservative controlled Supreme Court.
President Barack Obama urged Congress to restore a key part of the Voting Rights Act, writing in a letter to the editor in The New York Times Magazine published Wednesday that voting rights for all Americans must be “vigorously defended.”
Obama referenced a piece from The New York Times Magazine published in late July by Jim Rutenberg that detailed the 50 years of efforts to roll back the protections established by 1965’s landmark Voting Rights Act.
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“These efforts are not a sign that we have moved past the shameful history that led to the Voting Rights Act. Too often, they are rooted in that history,” the president wrote. “They remind us that progress does not come easy, but that it must be vigorously defended and built upon for ourselves and future generations.”
Obama made specific mention to 94-year-old Rosanell Eaton, who is a plaintiff in the ongoing North Carolina case against voting restrictions implemented two years ago, arguing that the law was written to discriminate against black voters.
“I am where I am today only because men and women like Rosanell Eaton refused to accept anything less than a full measure of equality. Their efforts made our country a better place. It is now up to us to continue those efforts,” he wrote.
The Supreme Court struck down key provisions of the voting law in a 2013 decision that required states to receive federal approval before they change election laws.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/obama-voting-rights-act-nytimes-121287.html#ixzz3iblSceKA
