Voting Rights Groups Honor Bloody Sunday, Call for Renewed Voting Protections
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Rabiah Ahmed rahmed@mrss.com
On Saturday, March 7, the civil rights community will mark the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the brutal attack on close to 600 civil rights activists marching from Selma to Montgomery in support of voting rights.
The devastating events of Bloody Sunday served as an inflection point that led to the passage of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) – the very law now being challenged in courtrooms across the country by modern-day opponents of equal access to democracy for all communities of color.
Ongoing cases such as Louisiana v. Callais and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Howe threaten core protections of the VRA, including the ability of communities of color to challenge discriminatory maps and voting restrictions. If these challenges to the VRA succeed, Black, Brown, Asian, and Native American voters could lose one of the strongest legal tools for defending their political power and ensuring fair representation.
These cases also come amid a broader wave of other policies that continue to restrict access to the ballot and dilute the voting strength of communities of color – precisely the abuses the VRA was designed to stop.
That is what makes this moment so consequential. More than six decades after Bloody Sunday, the progress won by civil rights activists remains under threat. These challenges are unfolding at a time when the electorate is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse and when communities of color are growing larger, more engaged, and more influential.
As we honor the courage of those who marched in Selma, the Voting Rights Working Group reaffirms our commitment to protecting these fundamental rights and advancing them as a matter of civil rights for all. Our democracy depends on fair and equal access to the ballot. When voting systems are unlawfully manipulated instead of reflecting the will of the people, the promise of our democracy is at risk for everyone.
Media Note: Attorneys from the VRWG are available to speak with the press on the record or on
background about matters concerning these cases and more. Please contact us for more information.
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