Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 6 July 2006 — Page 2

Page 2 • The Muncie Times • July 6, 2006

EDITORIAL Congress should stop pussyfooting reauthorize Voting Rights

The expected Voting Rights Act reauthorization has been stalled—after some Republicans in the GOP-dominated U.S. House of Representatives sabotaged it. They demanded that certain sections of the act should be watered down or removed altogether because some southern states no longer deserve to continue under federal scrutiny and supervision. What these Congress members seem to forget is that Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and other southern states were placed under federal monitoring because they had grievously, egregiously, criminally and systemati-

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cally denied African Americans the right to vote or had placed numerous obstacles in the way to prevent African Americans from voting. Voting rights should not be a partisan issue. It's a moral issue. It's a rights issue. It's a political issue. It's a fundamental issue. It smacks of hypocrisy to talk about freedom in Iraq, to place American soldiers in harm's way in trying to promote freedom and democracy in Iraq and then turn around and refuse to guarantee the same freedoms to nonwhite Americans. Freedom should begin at home, before it can be exported to other coun-

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tries. The right to vote, to choose those who will hold elective office andpreside over the making of decisions that affect us all, is the cornerstone of democracy. It gives citizens the right to elect or fire their representatives. It makes elected officials accountable to their electorates. It means whoever you are, rich or poor, white or black, powerful or powerless, educated or uneducated, your vote will count equally. The vote of the poorest person in the country is equal to that of the president of the United States or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

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But we cannot guarantee that unless Congress has the guts to take this bull by the horns and do the only honorable thing: reauthorize the Voting Rights Act. The southern states were not arbitrarily or capriciously chosen for federal scrutiny. They earned that right because they were capricious in how they discriminated against African Americans. They systematically and deliberately put in place measures designed to discourage, prevent or stop African Americans from registering to vote or from voting. They used the poll tax, literacy tests and other illegal shenanigans, which did not apply to white voters and potential voters, in a virtual criminal conspiracy to prevent adult blacks from voting. It became necessary for the federal government, through Congress and the U.S. Justice Department, to step in and ensure that the voting rights of African Americans and other disenfranchised Americans were protected. Now an attempt is underway to undercut these provisions. Congress needs to have the guts to ensure that the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act occurs this year. President George W. Bush needs to speak up and urge Congress to do the right thing. Republican and Democratic leaders need to stand up and be counted. The Congressional Black Caucus, the Civil Rights Movement and all fair-minded Americans need to push Congress to

act on this crucial issue this year, instead of putting the matter off until next year. The southern states covered by the Voting Rights Act were not arbitrarily chosen. They placed themselves on the list because they had systematically and deliberately engaged in activities designed to prevent blacks from voting or to dilute their voting strength. These were not mistakes. They were deliberate public policy choices. There is evidence, from Texas, Georgia and some of the other southern states that efforts to interfere with the voting rights of African Americans and other minorities are continuing. To fail to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act is tantamount to the United States denying its own citizens the same rights— freedom and the right to vote—that it purports to be promoting overseas. That would be first class hypocrisy. It would inhumane. It would disrespect the flag and the U.S. Constitution. It would put nonwhite U.S. soldiers in the anomalous position of fighting to protect, overseas, freedoms and rights that their own people are being denied in some of the southern states. That's an untenable situation. That divides, rather than uniting, the country. We hope the the United States, the president and the Congress will unite in doing the only right thing: reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act now, before it expires next year.

MUNCIE TIMES STAFF

Publisher Bea Moten-Foster Editor John Lambkun Advertising Bea Moten-Foster Layout/fypesetting Adrian Barrett Contributors: T.S. Kumbula, Maurice EL-Taylor, Nicole Johnson, Hurley C. Goodall, Bernice Powell Jackson, and Marc H. Morial Administrative Assistant Belinda Castelow The Muncie Times is published twice monthly at 1304 N. Broadway, Muncie, IN 47303. It covers the communities of Anderson, Marion, New Castle, Richmond, and Muncie. All editorial correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, The Muncie Times, 1304 N. Broadway, Muncie, IN 47303. Telephone (765) 741-0037. Fax (765) 741-0040.

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