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Page A4
March 30. 2005
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
O pinion
A Poisoned Chalice for the Voting Rights Act
by R ev .
J esse L.
J ackson
S r .
Be ware the stranger bearing gifts.
Or as the law teaches, caveat emp-
tor: buyer beware. Look before you
leap. All these warnings apply to
the emerging Republican position­
ing on the Voting Rights Act.
Forty years ago, after the bloody
march in Selma, Congress passed
the Voting Rights Act. The Act
requires that states with a history
of discrimination get pre-approval
from the Justice Department for any
changes in their voting procedures.
The reality of segregation and vote
suppression required scrutiny of
any changes to insure that they
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w w w .o re g o n c o lle g e s a v in g s .c o m
were not discriminatory in effect.
This was a great victory for the
movement that Dr. Martin Luther
King led. Give us the vote. Dr. King
taught, and we can begin to change
America. And as African Ameri­
cans were able to register and vote
and legal segregation slowly came
to an end, a new South was created.
The New South became a center of
investment, which had redlined the
segregated South. The New South
became the home of presidents -
Carter and Clinton - who would
have found it impossible to be
elected from a segregated region.
Politics changed too. As Lyndon
Johnson predicted when he signed
the Voting Rights Act, Democrats
paid a great price for being the party
of progress. In the South, Republi­
cans made themselves the party of
white sanctuary. Jesse Helms and
others taught them how to use ra­
cial fears to win campaigns. The
current Republican majorities in the
House and Senate are founded on
the racial politics of the South.
By 2007, the Voting Rights Act
must be reauthorized. This requires
congressional hearings on the
evolving history of racial discrimi­
nation in the South. By demon­
strating the reality that minorities
still face discrimination— from voter
intimidation, racially motivated re­
districting, racially biased disquali­
fication standards, racial biased dis­
tribution of voting machines and
much more — Congress can rees­
tablish the predicate for maintain­
ing strict scrutiny over those states
with a history of segregation and
legalized discrimination.
Will the Republican Congress
reauthorize the Voting Rights Act?
When asked in a meeting with the
Black Caucus o f the Congress,
President Bush said he didn’t know
anything about the
q u e stio n . B ut as
Governor ofTexas, he
governed one o f the
states covered by the
Voting Rights Act and
so he must have known
what it entailed.
Now some Republi­
can leaders are sug­
gesting that the law be
made “national and per­
m a n e n t.” T h a t so u n d s
good. By making it national,
strict scrutiny will apply to all
states. By making it permanent,
the periodic battles over reau­
thorization will not be neces­
sary.
Beware. This plan,
hatched in right-
wing think tanks,
sounds good, but is designed to
gut the Voting Rights Act By mak­
ing it national and permanent, the
Congress would set the act up for
being ruled unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court. Since the Act fo­
cuses on race, it requires strict scru­
tiny to make certain there is a ratio­
nal basis for its provisions. If it is
made national and permanent, di­
vorced from the record of discrimi­
n a tio n th a t r e ­
quires special re­
view, the act could
well be deemed un­
c o n stitu tio n a l. R e­
publicans would have
used the court to mur­
der the Voting Rights
Act while pretending
to have clean hands.
T his m aneuver is
particularly disturbing
given the current right-wing
leadership’s desperate efforts to
sustain their majority by fixing
the game. Rep. Tom “the ham­
mer” DeLay, the Republican ma­
jo rity leader in the H ouse,
trampled all precedent by forc­
ing through off-year
reapportionment in
Texas to gain four
seats in the House. Now Republi­
can governors with legislative ma­
jorities are under instruction to do
the same thing elsewhere. If they
are prepared to break the tradition
of reapportionment every ten years
to rig the rules, imagine what they
This plan, hatched in right-
wing think tanks, sounds good,
but is designed to gut the
Voting Rights Act.
-b y Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
will do if they can get rid of the
Voting Rights Act scrutiny. W e’ll
be headed back to the days when
blacks were systematically denied
the right to vote.
If Republicans w ere serious
about electoral reform, there is a
simple alternative. Reauthorize the
Voting Rights Act and maintain
strict scrutiny on the states with a
long history of race-based discrimi­
nation. Then pass a constitutional
right to vote for every American,
making our Constitution as sen­
sible as the election laws we helped
write for Iraq. The states with a
history of segregation would stay
under scrutiny, and voting rights
across the country would also gain
greater protection.
But Senate Majority leader Bill
Frist o f T ennessee and House
Majority Tom DeLay ofT exas op­
pose electoral reform . Instead,
they’re maneuvering to use the
courts to gut the Voting Rights
Act. (And to insure the Courts go
their way, they are ready to trample
the rule of the Senate to pack the
Courts with right-wing zealots.)
President Bush is using his faith-
based initiative to help purchase
allies in the churches. H e’d like to
focus our attention on gay mar­
riage and abortion, even as he at­
tacks first affirmative action and
now voting rights. For African
Americans, this is the proverbial
w olfin sheep’s clothing. And w e’d
better watch out or w e’ll wake to
find the wolf has made off with all of
the rights that we fought so hard to
achieve.
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. is a
long-time civil rights activist.
We Can and Must Do Better
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F attah
President Bush’s fiscal year2006
budget makes the wrong choices
for our nation. Over the past four
years, our country has moved from
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record surpluses to record deficits.
Under the president's budget, the
economic security of every person
will be hampered if not crippled by
the nation’s growing debt.
The president’s budget calls for
a $4.5 billion decrease in education
funding for the nation’s children,
while providing a $32 billion in­
crease in tax breaks for millionaires.
This is unsound and unwise and it
hurts the most vulnerable among
us.
We need a responsible budget
that brings together our nation,
builds and invests in America’s
future, and provides opportunity
for all Americans. As such, I along
with members of the Congressional
Black Caucus proposed a budget
substitute. ItfocusesontheC B C ’s
legislative agenda of closing dis­
parities in all American communi­
ties and restores fiscal responsibil­
ity to the federal budget process.
The CBC budget invests in our
security by providing the neces­
sary resources for the Department
of Homeland Security to fully begin
protecting A m erica’s rails, ports
and shores. It also provides sig­
nificant resources for first respond­
ers and makes available critical
funding for body and vehicle armor
to protect our troops in Iraq.
The CBC budget invests in our
future and future generations by
fully funding the No Child Left
Behind Act; increasing funding for
college awareness programs such
as GEAR UP and Trio; doubling
support for historically black col­
leges and universities; ensuring
that all children are provided the
fundamentals of a quality educa­
tion through a highly qualified
teacher, rigorous curriculums, up­
dated textbooks and computers,
small class sizes, state o f the art
libraries, and qualified school coun­
selors; funding home ownership
initiatives to help families build real
wealth; restoring funds for child
nutrition programs and Community
Development Block Grants; and
providing additional funding for
the Minority Health Initiative in
urban and rural communities.
The CBC budget ensures fiscal
responsibility by reducing the 2001
and 2003 tax cuts for individuals
whose incomes exceed $200,000.
Finally, we must intensely look
at the president’s policies and bud­
get that are not just fiscally bank­
rupt, but morally bankrupt as well.
We can and we must do better.
Through the intense work o f my
colleagues, the CBC budget is fis­
cally sound and it focuses on in­
vesting in each o f you and in
America’s future generations.
U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-
Penn., is a member o f the Congres­
sional Black Caucus.
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Intervention Needed
Healthcare Reform Can Save Jobs
Major corporations throughout
the country are threatening to lay­
off thousands of workers unless
they can find relief from skyrocket­
ing healthcare costs. In the last few
years healthcare costs have in­
creased by an average of 15 percent
per year and most corporate lead­
ers believe that government inter­
vention will be necessary to avoid
massive layoffs or a reduction in
benefits.
The federal government how­
ever, has not presented a plan to
address this current crisis. Instead
of rescuing corporations and work­
ers from the current healthcare cri­
sis, the current administration is
focused on solving a so-called so­
cial security crisis that has yet to
occur.
The autom otive industry is be­
ing hit the hardest with healthcare
c o s ts . G e n e ra l M o to rs , th e
n a tio n 's la r g e s t a u to m o b ile
m aker, will spend a record $5.6
billion on healthcare this year.
The corporation partly blam es
rising healthcare costs for billion
dollar loses and now is planning
to elim inate thousands o f jobs.
Chrysler was recently forced to
amend their union agreement with
35,000 blue-collar workers who are
now required to pay a portion of
their own healthcare costs. General
Motors is expected to try and nego­
tiate a similar agreement with the
United Auto Workers Union.
Both union and.automobile ex­
ecutives have called for govern­
ment intervention through com pre­
hensive national healthcare reform.
Asking workers to reduce their
benefits or begin paying their
healthcare costs is not the answer.
That will only reduce income to
workers, reduce spending in the
marketplace and as a result, cause
more layoffs by businesses whose
products aren’t selling.
The unions and corporations
must press our federal officials to
give real attention to healthcare
reform.
In President B ush 's State of
/ - J
BY
J udge
G reg
M athis
V
The Union A ddress, he pledged
healthcare assistance by way of
cheaper insurance prem ium s, yet
he gave no plan as to how it
would be accomplished. His other
solution is to place caps on m edi­
cal m alpractice aw ards for people
injured by doctors. In other words
he w ants to limit m onies for the
pain and suffering o f m alpractice
victim s so that doctors can low er
their m alpractice insurance pre­
miums. I ’m still trying to figure
out how that would help w orking
A m ericans and corporate e m ­
ployers low er their healthcare
premiums.
Judge Greg Mathis is chairman
o f the Rainbow PUSH-Excel Board
and a national board member o f
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.