40th anniversary of Voting Rights Act: Freedom requires eternal vigilance.

[Fly by night]

This is cross-posted from the 2004 ERD forum to get a broader set of reactions. Any editorial suggestions would be appreciated.
---------------
Tomorrow morning, I will participate in a press conference in Nashville to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act. The Tennessee NAACP is holding similar press conferences statewide to kick off several months of educational events and celebrations of this historic event. I really appreciate this invitation as a chance to say that all our voting rights face serious challenges today, not the least of which is the Rethugs' stated resistance to reauthorizing this Act.

Here in Tennessee, we have worked hard ever since 11/3/04 to learn from the successful civil rights pioneers in our midst and to forge alliances with all groups -- NAACP, Urban League, Common Cause, TN Disabled Voters and (soon) the League of Women Voters -- to pursue our common goals of free, fair and verifiable elections. I am being given two minutes on the program tomorrow to try to delineate our common concerns and our common goals. Here's the draft I'm working with. I would sure appreciate any comments or editorial feedback you folks can give. It's hard for Southerners to say much in two minutes, so any feedback you can provide would be most appreciated. Now it's time to eat a bowl of field peas and be thankful for what makes us all Americans these days -- and for the chance to remind the corporate media tomorrow what eternal vigilance sounds like. Peace out.
------------

I am honored to be part of this NAACP celebration of the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Here in Nashville, we are rightfully proud to be the birthplace for women’s suffrage 85 years ago and to be one of the birthing places for the civil rights struggle that brought the franchise to Black people in 1965. 85 years ago, American women of all races were not disenfranchised, because they had never had the franchise in the first place. 40 years ago, Black people were not disenfranchised because – for all practical purposes – they had never had the franchise in the first place. So to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the passage of women’s suffrage and the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act in this city within the past week is truly a momentous occasion, and something that we should all be proud of. As an eighth generation Mississippian, I am particularly humbled by the opportunity to be here today in this august company, because my grandmother was an transplanted Illinois suffragette who helped register the Black women who helped raise me when I was still a youngster, back when Mississippi still burned.

As Thomas Paine said over 230 years ago, “the right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which all other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery.” The Voting Rights Act helped free all of us, Black and White, Brown, Yellow and Red. It freed us to take advantage of the intellect, creativity and compassion of all our American peoples. It opened doors for the Barack Obamas, the Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, the John Conyers in our midst; and helped us be greater than the sum of our parts by using all the parts -- all the peoples -- of our communities to their fullest. It conveyed respect in the most fundamental way to men and women whose labors had built this country, whose taxes had funded its good works – but whose voices were gagged by prejudice and the selfishness and short-sightedness that always accompanies prejudice.

So we are here to celebrate the expansion of the franchise that came 40 years ago – less than half a lifetime ago of an old man or woman – through the passage of the Voting Rights Act. But this is not an idle or even a stress-free celebration. As Thomas Jefferson taught us so well, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." And today, we must be vigilant because many of the same forces of ignorance, prejudice and tyranny that we fought in the past have re-awakened today. Not to prevent the receipt of the franchise in the first place, but to take that sacred right away. And today, it is not simply women or Black citizens who have to fear for the loss of something they hold so dear – it is all of us.

Because when Black voters in Ohio have to wait an average of 52 minutes before voting in the last election while white voters reported waiting an average of 18 minutes – we are all disenfranchised.

Because when precincts serving primarily Indian and Hispanic voters in New Mexico had voting machines that “lost” over one in every seven votes cast for President – votes that could not be retrieved and recounted because there was no lasting record of those votes to recount – we are all disenfranchised.

Because when a prominent political party in this country hires a contractor to register voters in six states that then systematically discarded the registration forms for people of the opposing party, we are all disenfranchised.

Because when in a fashion similar to that experienced on predominantly Black colleges nationwide, Tennessee State University students faced challenges from Davidson County election officials which prevented them from voting, but Lipscomb, Trevecca and Vanderbilt students did not face these same challenges, we are all disenfranchised.

Because when over 70% of our votes nationwide are counted on electronic voting equipment that runs on secret software, equipment that uses or produces no paper ballots, equipment manufactured and maintained by corporations owned by major contributors to only one political party, we are all disenfranchised.

And because when politicians now in control of all branches of our government tell us we no longer need the Voting Rights Act, when these same politicians write into law prohibitions that prevent individuals from bringing voting discrimination cases, when those same politicians prevent discussion of a federal bill to require voter-verified paper ballots -- a bill with over 140 co-sponsors that has now languished for three years without even a committee hearing -- you can bet that all of us are being disenfranchised.

And finally, when almost half of all eligible voters fail to exercise their right to vote, and almost 40% of those who do vote question whether their votes were counted as they were cast, we are all not only disenfranchised – we are at risk of losing our democracy as completely as if our country had been conquered by a foreign power.

The Voting Rights Act must be re-authorized because it freed all of us 40 years ago, and it continues to stand today between freedom and slavery, to stand for a government which derives its rightful power from the consent of all of the governed and against a government which takes power through trickery and deception. The reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act is the foundation from which a new generation of election reforms will arise – reforms that will protect the franchise for all people and that will demonstrate the respect we give to all Americans as part of their birthright in this cradle of democracy.

Today, this looming fight appears difficult, because once again we do battle with elements of our own government. But I am in a room full of patriots, people who know, like Thomas Paine, that sometimes “It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from his government,” particularly when elements of that government seek to disenfranchise all of us and return all of us to political slavery.

A free, fair and verifiable vote for all Americans is the foundation of all our freedoms and I am proud to stand here in support of that most fundamental of American ideals, the most potent weapon in our country’s arsenal against tyranny and oppression. Today, part of our generation’s price for continued freedom is the eternal vigilance that re-authorizing the Voting Rights Act represents. We look forward to working hand-in-hand, shoulder to shoulder, with everyone in this room to make that happen.
------

OK, guys, any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

[wli]

1. There are no voting rights until Diebold et al are gone. n/t