John Lewis Voting Rights Act Reintroduced Before Bloody Sunday

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) speaks at a information convention on the reintroduction of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Development Act within the Senate Dirksen Workplace Constructing on February 29, 2024, in Washington, D.C. | Supply: Anna Moneymaker / Getty

Senate Democrats on Thursday reintroduced key voting rights laws that will restore key provisions that undermine Republicans’ efforts to lower entry to the poll, notably for Black voters.

The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Development Act was reintroduced a bit of greater than every week earlier than the 59th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” protest marches within the small Alabama city of Selma with the intent of combating white resistance towards African Individuals gaining the correct to vote in elections.

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Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock was joined by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, California Sen. LaPhonza Butler, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal in reintroducing the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Development Act, which has didn’t advance in Congress a number of instances and would restore and broaden provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act gutted by earlier Supreme Courtroom choices.

“I used to be Congressman Lewis’ pastor, however he was my mentor and hero as a result of he believed voting is a sacred endeavor that’s about greater than an individual’s voice, it’s about their humanity,” Warnock mentioned in reintroducing the invoice. “That’s why this laws is extra vital than ever, as a result of the battle to guard voting rights and voting entry for each eligible American stays unfinished and even worse, a lot of the progress Congressman Lewis fought for is being rolled again.”

The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Development Act

First launched in 2019, the invoice was renamed for Lewis shortly after the legendary Georgia Congressman died in 2020. It handed within the Home in 2021 earlier than languishing because the U.S. Senate didn’t transfer it past the controversy stage.

Since then, the laws has been at a standstill.

Civil rights leaders and teams hailed the Senate Democrats for reintroducing the invoice at such an important second, not simply in historical past but in addition in an election yr.

“The NAACP is proud to help Senator Warnock’s reintroduction of the John Lewis Voting Rights Development Act invoice. Proper now, Individuals, notably Black Individuals’ proper to vote is below assault,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson mentioned in a press release emailed to NewsOne.

Johnson continued: “The reintroduction of this invoice marks one other pivotal second within the battle to make sure each American has entry to the poll field. We all know that democracy can’t exist with out the Black vote. Now, it’s as much as our leaders to guard it, guaranteeing that each voice is heard, and each vote counted. Collectively, we’ll restore democracy.”

Bloody Sunday

The importance of the timing – simply earlier than the Bloody Sunday anniversary – that the John Lewis Voting Rights Development Act was reintroduced shouldn’t be misplaced on individuals.

The historic “Selma to Montgomery marches,” the primary of the three protest marches referred to as “Bloody Sunday,” came about 59 subsequent week and highlighted a turbulent time of the Civil Rights Motion of the Nineteen Sixties. The Pupil Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led voter registration drives in Selma.

This yr’s anniversary marks the fourth time within the march’s historical past that it’s going to happen with out a number of of its founding organizers. That features the legendary John Lewis, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the Rev. C.T. Vivian and lawyer Bruce Boynton. All 4 of these civil rights icons died in 2020.

Together with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Management Convention (SCLC), the gathering of activists held a number of demonstrations to protest the demise of fellow protester Jimmie Lee Jackson who was shot and killed by Alabama State Trooper James Bonard Fowler.

On March 7 of that yr, greater than 600 hundred individuals led by the SNCC and SCLC gathered in Selma to march in solidarity. Coupled with the unique purpose of the protest, marchers additionally needed to name consideration to the denial of their voting rights. With the 1964 Civil Rights Act passing, King and different leaders hoped the gathering would velocity alongside the chance for equity.

Led by Lewis, who was chairman of the SNCC on the time, and Rev. Hosea Williams of the SCLC, the marchers have been undeterred till they reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge that crosses the Alabama River heading into Montgomery.

Alabama police prevented the marchers from shifting ahead as soon as they crossed the bridge, prompting shoving matches earlier than officers fired tear gasoline into the gang and started beating the nonviolent protesters with billy golf equipment.

Defiantly, Dr. King roused nationwide help for the next march referred to as “Turnaround Tuesday” and returned to Selma on March 9 of that yr.

Weeks in a while March 21 and below federal safety, a large group of 8,000 marched efficiently to Montgomery and have been met with a “Stars For Freedom” rally, that includes Sammy Davis, Jr., Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Nina Simone and extra.

It could be a number of months till the Voting Rights Act Of 1965 would move in August of that yr, solidifying that the SNCC’s and SCLC’s onerous work was not in useless.

However a number of the protections within the Voting Rights Act Of 1965 have since been rolled again, prompting the dire want for the John Lewis Voting Rights Development Act to be enacted into legislation.

That is America.