It bothers us that another Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration will pass without Congress honoring the late civil rights leader’s memory with federal voting rights protections.
Voting rights were central to King’s life mission and are equally central to today’s civil rights battles. In the name of election security, numerous states, including Texas, have passed legislation that makes it more difficult to vote, some of which civil rights advocates say roll back protections and erect discriminatory hurdles for voters of color.
It is insufficient to recognize King’s sacrifices and the gains he propelled without also urging Congress to pass a new Voting Rights Act. A viable federal enforcement mechanism hasn’t existed in the act since 2013 when the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision in Shelby County vs. Holder, struck down a requirement that jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination in voting obtain prior approval from the federal government before making changes to voting rules.
The high court intended Congress to update the law to reflect current conditions. However, various measures, including the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 named after the late congressman and civil rights leader, have stalled in Congress.
That Congress remains polarized and paralyzed on this simple task is an indictment of modern politics. In bipartisan fashion, Congress reauthorized and extended the act under Richard Nixon in 1970, Gerald Ford in 1975, Ronald Reagan in 1982 and George W. Bush in 2006. The high court’s ruling in 2013 and congressional inaction have opened the door to political power games between Republicans tightening voting requirements and Democrats favoring increasing voting access.
Congress passed the landmark Voting Rights Act in 1965 to deliver the promise of the 15th Amendment in 1869 to grant protection of voting rights of citizens regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” But while the nation has evolved over the decades, the promised land that King spoke of the evening before his assassination in 1968 remains elusive.
The ranks of courageous, principled individuals who risked all during the most turbulent times of the civil rights movement become thinner each year. The banner of freedom that they waved and the commitment to civil rights, equal treatment under the law and voting rights protections now fall to all of us to pursue in the name of Dr. King, freedom and the Constitution.
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Honor MLK with federal voting rights protections
