SHERRY CANNON

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, between Jan. 1 to July 14, 18 states enacted 30 laws that will make it harder for Americans to vote. In particular, Black and brown Americans will be disenfranchised, because many of these laws are targeting primarily urban counties, such as Harris County in Atlanta, Georgia.

Republican legislators fake outrage when they are challenged that these draconian laws are racist. Just because a law doesn’t explicitly say its intent is to prevent Black and brown people from voting, doesn’t mean it is not racist. Look at its impact and see what it determines. The tactics may be different, but the outcomes are the same. They tell us not to believe our lying eyes, but to believe that these new voting restrictions will secure elections from voter fraud, without any evidence that fraud is taking place.

These voter suppression laws include limiting early voting days; shortening the time to request vote by mail ballots; limiting the number, location, or availability of mail ballot drop boxes; imposing harsher voter ID requirements to vote by mail, as well as in-person voting; expanding voter roll purges; banning snacks and water in voter waiting lines; eliminating Election Day registration; reducing polling places availability; and increasing the number of voters per precinct.

This past Aug. 28, over 20,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., for the “March on for Washington and Voting Rights.” This was the 58th anniversary of the historic 1963 “March on Washington” led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It’s ironic that we are fighting for a right that we thought we had secured 58 years ago. In 2021, the right to vote is more restrictive than it was in 1965 after the passage of the Voter Right Act.

Congress has the power to stop these discriminatory laws from being implemented, by passing the “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.” The bill passed through the House of Representatives without one single Republican vote. It will take pressure from President Biden and the Senate to act, in order to supersede these oppressive state laws. It will take all of us who believe that what is promised in the 15th Amendment of the Constitution is at stake, to demand this bill becomes law.

Passing the John Lewis Voting Act in the Senate will be an uphill battle, due to the requirement of 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. The filibuster is a rule that has been used as a tool for white supremacy since its inception. Ironically, at the original March on Washington in 1963, the abolishment of the filibuster appeared in the list of demands. Dr. King spoke in detail about the way the filibuster was being used to block progress on Civil Rights. Dr. King said, “sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application.”

Derrick Johnson, CEO and President of the NAACP says it best, “We cannot out-organize voter suppression. We organized in November to put people in office to address the issue of voter suppression. We did not organize in November to let elected officials off the hook to organize again and overcome a new hurdle. Voters did their jobs as citizens and now they’re simply asking elected officials to do their job to protect our right to vote.”