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Minority & Small Business Week
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Effective
May 1, 2014
Martin
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Service
O PINION
September 30, 2015
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
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charge may be applied
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more $30.00 Each Area
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(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
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UPHOLSTERY
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Fundamental to Living in a Democracy
Voting rights
matter
M. L INDA J ARAMILLO
I graduated from high
school just a few months
before the monumental
Voting Rights Act was
passed on Aug. 6, 1965. In the
photographs of President Lyndon
B. Johnson signing that day, we
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from a weary yet jubilant commu-
nity of African-American sisters
and brothers and their allies sur-
rounding him.
I was a teenager then, living in
a small rural town in Colorado. As
someone who could not yet vote,
I didn’t realize all that it would
mean to millions who had been
denied that very fundamental right
of living in a democracy. Even
though I had read about it, I didn’t
fully understand all the trials that
courageous leaders endured to get
this epic legislation through Con-
gress and to the President’s desk.
Just a few weeks ago, we
marked as a nation the 50th anni-
versary of the passage of the Vot-
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rights legislation that has protect-
BY
ed voters from discrimination for
a h half century.
There have been other
m
milestones in our 200-
plu
plus years of history as
a democracy, but this
on
one proved that we are
a nation for the people,
that was so valiantly fought for by
generations before us.
Two years ago, in 2013, the
key provisions in the law which
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country with a long history of
discrimination would be held ac-
countable were stripped away by a
The Act has proved immensely
successful at redressing racial
discrimination and integrating
the voting process.
--Chief Justice John Roberts
by the people, and of the people
-- ALL the people. Those who had
been denied access to their own
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up and speak out at the voting
booth about candidates and issues
that matter to them and should
matter to everyone who believes
in justice for all.
In the midst of this anniver-
sary celebration, we lament that
millions of citizens, members of
our proud democracy, are once
again being denied the very right
slim majority of the U.S. Supreme
Court in a 5-4 vote. In the words
of Chief Justice John Roberts,
“things have changed dramatical-
ly” in the South in the nearly 50
years since the Voting Rights Act
was signed in 1965. At the same
time, Justice Roberts also ad-
mitted, “The Act has proved im-
mensely successful at redressing
racial discrimination and integrat-
ing the voting process.”
Since this Supreme Court deci-
sion, states such as North Caroli-
na, South Carolina and Texas have
already passed new laws with the
very voting restrictions feared by
those who gathered around Pres-
ident Johnson that historic day 50
years ago. It mattered to them and
it should matter to each of us who
believes in democracy.
We can join the efforts to stop
the attack on voting rights, like the
Moral Mondays Movement, orig-
inating in North Carolina, which
has spread across the country. We
can join the efforts of Progres-
sive National Baptist Convention.
Members of the United Church
of Christ will continue to join the
efforts of religious and civic lead-
ers who are organizing to register
voters and pressure Congress to
repair this damage before more
are excluded from the polls in our
next election.
We can and must act to ensure
democracy for ALL the people.
The handshake between President
Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. on Aug. 6, 1965, was a
promise that mattered to them and
it must matter to us.
The Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo is
executive minister in Justice and
Witness Ministries for the United
Church of Christ.