The NAACP knows exactly what this group is trying to do after last year’s historic election turnout – and it has nothing to do with security.
It was 56 years ago this month that 600 organizers and activists, led by Amelia Boynton Robinson and John Lewis, stood together and crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
It wasn’t long before the peaceful protesters were attacked by Alabama State troopers with bully clubs and tear gas.
The violence displayed by the racist police became part of a larger boiling point for the nation – a few months later in August of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the original Voting Rights Act, ushering our democracy into a new age.
While the Voting Rights Act was a great foundation, a 2013 Supreme Court case virtually gutted the bill’s regulatory power. One dissenter called the decision, “throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm”.
In the years after that decision, the late Rep. John Lewis made it his mission to pass a new voting rights bill that would not only reverse the damages done over the years, but create new voter protections.
John Lewis may not be here with us today, but we will carry on his legacy. It’s up to every single one of us to push Congress to pass his namesake legislation and stop the 250+ ongoing voter suppression bills being drafted in state legislatures across the country.
We’re demanding that Congress honor the late John Lewis by passing this new Voting Rights Act NOW. We must ensure that ALL voters have fair and equal access to the ballot box regardless of identity. Please join the NAACP and add your name today!