“This is not who we are.” How many times did you hear someone on Capitol Hill make this claim when talking about the horrific events that took place in Washington D.C. on January 6? I am not sure who they were talking to but my thoughts and my thoughts only, I think this is exactly who you are. The problem that you are having is you did not mean for it to be revealed in this way. In the “old days” it was so easy, just turn them away, move the polling place, or make them count the bubbles in a bar of soap. According to History.com the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Voting Rights Act is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in the U.S. I wonder is this currently taught in schools, I digress. But in the “old days” which was in my lifetime Black people attempting to vote were often told by election officials that they had gotten the date, time, or polling place wrong, that they possessed insufficient literacy skills, or that they had filled out an application incorrectly. Black people, whose population suffered a high rate of illiteracy due to centuries of oppression and poverty, often would be forced to take literacy tests, which they sometimes failed.
During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, voting rights activists in the South were subjected to various forms of mistreatment and violence. One event that outraged many Americans occurred on March 7, 1965, when peaceful participants in a Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights were met by Alabama state troopers who attacked them with nightsticks, tear gas, and whips after they refused to turn back. Yes, that march was all about voting. Did you know? In 1965, at the time of the passage of the Voting Rights Act, there were only six African American members of the U.S. House of Representatives and no Black people in the U.S. Senate. By 1971, there were 13 members of the House and one Black member of the Senate.
Fast forward to 2020 we were in the midst of a pandemic and people did not want to vote in person therefore registered voters were able to vote by mail. Due to laws about when you can count votes and omission of dates and signatures on envelopes the count took time. The election was not stolen the results were delayed and just like the “old days” you showed us who you are.
Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com
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