Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right… The command of the Constitution is plain. There is no moral issue. It is wrong—deadly wrong—to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country. There is no issue of States rights or National rights. There is only the struggle for human rights.
—President Lyndon Johnson, “The American Promise,” March 15, 1965
These words are from the well-known televised address President Johnson gave before a joint session of Congress urging members to move forward without delay on what would become the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The speech and legislation came after the entire nation had spent days transfixed by events in Alabama. On March 7, 1965, John Lewis and Rev. Hosea Williams set out with a group of 600 on a planned 50-mile peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery. Instead, state troopers brutally attacked the nonviolent protestors on the first day at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The televised images of “Bloody Sunday” and the injured marchers—including Lewis, whose skull was fractured—were a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. They roused great sympathy for the protesters and reminded all Americans that these marchers had to put their lives on the line for what should have been considered a basic American right: the right to vote.
On March 4, 2012, marchers returned to the road from Selma to Montgomery—but not just to revisit that moment in history that changed the course of our nation. They are marching again because in 2012, voting rights are once again under attack.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said to the crowd of thousands (I was among them) who finally completed the original march to Montgomery two weeks later: “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave Negroes some part of their rightful dignity, but without the vote it was dignity without strength… The confrontation of good and evil compressed in the tiny community of Selma generated the massive power to turn the whole nation to a new course. A president born in the South had the sensitivity to feel the will of the country, and in an address that will live in history as one of the most passionate pleas for human rights ever made by a president of our nation, he pledged the might of the federal government to cast off the centuries-old blight.” In August 1965, the Voting Rights Act became law.
But right now many states are attempting to put new voting restrictions in place that parallel all the old tricks and turn back the clock on civil rights to the days when voting was used as a tool for political control and exclusion. The “centuries-old blight” now has a twenty-first century disguise. The latest restrictions include strict photo identification requirements limited to certain forms of government-issued ID, cuts on early voting and absentee voting, and new requirements for registration that make it much more difficult for voters to prove citizenship and residency and register to vote at all. The changes threaten to disenfranchise millions of people, and studies show young, minority, and low-income voters and voters with disabilities will be most affected. “It’s no coincidence that a nationwide rollback in voting rights for America’s most vulnerable citizens is happening just as elected officials mount unprecedented campaigns to slash investments in education and economic development,” said National Urban League president and CEO Marc Morial, as his organization launched their Occupy the Vote campaign on March 7. “[A] coordinated effort is underway to exclude from the political process the very citizens whose futures hang in the balance.”
Of course, our true most vulnerable citizens—children—have no vote and no voice. And all parents and adults concerned about the future have a responsibility to them to vote and make our own votes count. But when powerful forces start to chip away at the right to vote for some Americans, they threaten the American promise for all Americans. No American should be complicit in allowing this to happen.
The courts and state legislatures are taking a second look at some of these changes as the presidential primary process continues and the 2012 elections grow closer—and so the time to take action against new voter suppression laws is right now. As Representative John Lewis prepared to participate in the Selma to Montgomery march, he said, “Forty-seven years ago I spilled a little blood on that bridge but that was nothing compared to those who died so that we could live in a better America. We march today for what we did 47 years ago—for what is fair, what is right and for what is just.” The sacrifices made during the Civil Rights Movement must not be undermined today. The “command of the Constitution” is still “plain,” and denying Americans the right to vote is still “deadly wrong.” Do you know the voting policies in your own state? Educate yourself and join others to speak out and defeat threats to voting rights now.
Kila raia wa Marekani lazima awe na haki sawa ya kupiga kura. Hakuna sababu inayoweza kusamehe kukataliwa kwa haki hiyo. Hakuna wajibu ambao unatuzidisha zaidi kuliko wajibu tunao wa kuhakikisha haki hiyo... amri ya Katiba ni wazi. Hakuna suala la maadili. Ni kosa - kosa kubwa - kukataa yeyote wa wenzako Wamarekani haki ya kupiga kura katika nchi hii. Hakuna suala la haki za majimbo au haki za kitaifa. Kuna tu mapambano kwa ajili ya haki za binadamu. "Mwanzoni mwa mwaka 1965 Rais Lyndon B. Johnson alitoa hotuba ya televisheni ya ""The American Promise"" ambapo aliwahimiza wanachama wa bunge la Marekani kuendeleza bila kuchelewesha kile ambacho kingeitwa Sheria ya Haki za Kupiga Kura ya 1965." Hotuba hiyo na sheria hiyo zilitolewa baada ya taifa lote kutumia siku nyingi likishangazwa na matukio ya Alabama. Mnamo Machi 7, 1965, John Lewis na Rev. Hosea Williams na kikundi cha watu 600 walipanda kwa amani kutoka Selma hadi Montgomery. Polisi wa Marekani waliwashambulia waandamanaji wa siku ya kwanza kwenye daraja la Edmund Pettus. Picha za televisheni za "Jumapili ya Damu" na waandamanaji waliojeruhiwa - ikiwa ni pamoja na Lewis, ambaye fuvu la kichwa chake lilivunjika - zilikuwa wakati muhimu katika Harakati ya Haki za Kiraia. "Walichochea hisia kubwa kwa waandamanaji na kukumbusha Wamarekani wote kwamba waandamanaji hawa walilazimika kuweka maisha yao kwenye mstari kwa kile ambacho kilipaswa kuchukuliwa kuwa haki ya msingi ya Marekani: haki ya kupiga kura. """ Machi 4, 2012, waandamanaji walirudi kwenye barabara kutoka Selma hadi Montgomery, lakini si tu kurudi kwenye wakati huo katika historia ambao ulibadilisha mwendo wa taifa letu. "Wanafanya maandamano tena kwa sababu mwaka 2012 haki za kupiga kura ziko chini ya mashambulizi tena.""" "Martin Luther King Jr. aliwaambia maelfu ya watu waliokutana katika maandamano ya kwanza ya Montgomery wiki mbili baadaye: ""Sheria ya Haki za Kiraia ya 1964 iliwapa weusi sehemu ya heshima yao ya haki, lakini bila kura ilikuwa heshima bila nguvu... mapambano ya mema na mabaya yaliyokusanywa katika jamii ndogo ya Selma yalitoa nguvu kubwa ya kugeuza taifa nzima kwa njia mpya." "Mwanamfalme huyo wa Kusini alikuwa na hisia za kuhisi mapenzi ya nchi, na katika hotuba ambayo itaishi katika historia kama moja ya maombi ya shauku zaidi kwa haki za binadamu kuwahi kufanywa na rais wa taifa letu, aliahidi nguvu ya serikali ya shirikisho kuondoa uharibifu wa karne nyingi. "" - Agosti 1965 Sheria ya Haki za Kupiga Kura." "Lakini sasa hivi majimbo mengi yanajaribu kuweka vizuizi vipya vya kupiga kura ambavyo vinafanana na mbinu zote za zamani na kurudisha nyuma saa ya haki za kiraia kwa siku ambazo kupiga kura ilitumiwa kama chombo cha udhibiti wa kisiasa na kutengwa. """ "Ugonjwa wa karne nyingi" sasa una umbo la karne ya ishirini na moja. Vizuizi hivi karibuni vinatia ndani mahitaji makali ya utambulisho wa picha, yaliyopunguzwa kwa aina fulani za kitambulisho kilichotolewa na serikali, kupunguzwa kwa kupiga kura mapema na kupiga kura kwa kutokuwepo, na mahitaji mapya ya usajili ambayo hufanya iwe vigumu zaidi kwa wapiga kura kuthibitisha uraia na makazi na kusajili kupiga kura. Mabadiliko hayo yanatishia kuwaondoa mamilioni ya watu haki zao za kupiga kura, na uchunguzi unaonyesha vijana, wachache, wapiga kura wenye mapato ya chini na wapiga kura wenye ulemavu watathiriwa zaidi. "Si bahati mbaya kwamba kurudi nyuma kwa haki za kupiga kura kwa wananchi wa Amerika walio hatarini zaidi kunatokea wakati maafisa waliochaguliwa wanapanda kampeni zisizokuwa na kifani za kupunguza uwekezaji katika elimu na maendeleo ya kiuchumi, ""alisema rais na mtendaji mkuu wa Ligi ya Kitaifa ya Miji Marc Morial, wakati shirika lake lilizindua kampeni yao ya Kushikilia Kura mnamo Machi 7." <unk> [Jitihada] iliyopangwa inaendelea kuondoa kutoka kwa mchakato wa kisiasa raia ambao mustakabali wao unategemea usawa. <unk> Bila shaka, raia wetu wa kweli walio hatarini zaidi <unk> watoto <unk> hawana kura na hawana sauti. Wazazi na watu wazima wote wanaohusika na siku zijazo wanawajibika kuwapiga kura na kufanya kura zetu zihesabiwe. Lakini wakati nguvu zenye nguvu zinapoanza kuharibu haki ya kupiga kura kwa Wamarekani fulani, zinatishia ahadi ya Marekani kwa Wamarekani wote. Hakuna Mmarekani anayepaswa kuwa mshirika katika kuruhusu hili kutokea. Mahakama na bunge la jimbo zinaangalia tena baadhi ya mabadiliko haya wakati mchakato wa uchaguzi wa kwanza wa urais unaendelea na uchaguzi wa 2012 unakaribia - na kwa hivyo wakati wa kuchukua hatua dhidi ya sheria mpya za kukandamiza wapiga kura ni sasa. "Wakati wa maandamano ya Selma hadi Montgomery, John Lewis alisema, ""Miaka 47 iliyopita nilimwaga damu kidogo kwenye daraja hilo, lakini hiyo haikuwa kitu ikilinganishwa na wale waliokufa ili tuweze kuishi katika Amerika bora.""" """Tunaandamana leo kwa kile tulichofanya miaka 47 iliyopita, kwa kile kilicho haki, kilicho sahihi na kilicho haki, sadaka zilizotolewa wakati wa harakati za haki za kiraia hazipaswi kudharauliwa leo." "Amri ya Katiba" bado ni "safi", na kukataa Wamarekani haki ya kupiga kura bado ni "kosa la kifo". Je, unajua sera za kupiga kura katika jimbo lako mwenyewe? Jifunze na kujiunga na wengine kusema na kushinda vitisho kwa haki za kupiga kura sasa.