MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR:
Securing The Right To Vote – Let’s Do It At Home, Too

Shouldn’t we be at least as concerned about securing voting rights in this country as we are about achieving that objective in Iraq?

Many people profess awe at the courage of Iraqis who braved grave personal danger to exercise the right to vote in January’s elections. But have you heard them even mention the great sacrifices made by brave Americans to secure the right to vote for people of color in this country?

March 7 marks the 40th anniversary of one of the seminal events in American history – “Black Sunday.” On that day, some 600 marchers headed out of Selma, Alabama to protest the denial of voting rights to African American citizens throughout the south. When they reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, just east of Selma, they were savagely attacked by scores of Alabama state troopers on horseback wielding billy clubs, fire hoses, tear gas, and other weapons and acting on orders of the governor of the state of Alabama that they disburse the demonstrators with whatever force and violence they wished to employ. Many of the voting rights activists were left bloodied and severely injured – just because they wanted to secure the right to vote and to end the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans here.

The events of Bloody Sunday repulsed the nation. Within one week, President Lyndon Johnson made a televised speech to a joint session of Congress in which he denounced the attacks and two days later he sent the Voting Rights Act to Congress. It passed and was signed into law on August 6, 1965. But before that occurred, much bloodshed and death ensued (like the murder of Viola Liuzzo, a white homemaker from Detroit who was murdered by Klansmen as she drove back to Selma from a voting rights rally in Montgomery on March 21, 1965).

The fearlessness of the Iraqis was no more remarkable than that of Americans who faced and overcame similar life-threatening peril to secure the right to vote in this country.

But here’s the punch line: many of the key provisions of the Voting Rights Act which those brave Americans spilled so much blood to achieve, are scheduled to expire if not renewed within the next two years. Like the assault weapons ban, Congress must act imminently to extend the Act, or its provisions will evaporate in 2007. And we’ll be back to where we were in 1965.

I’ve heard the Administration tout the importance of securing the right to vote for Iraqis for many months. But not one word about the importance of extending the VRA. We have endured thousands of Americans casualties and expended hundreds of billions of dollars to accomplish the laudable goal of enabling Iraqis to vote. But shouldn’t we be at least as dedicated to guaranteeing voting rights for Americans?

I call on President Bush to send a Voting Rights Act extension bill to the Congress immediately. And to speak up for voting rights for Americans, whenever he urges extension of voting rights for others as the hallmark of his vision for world order.

And while we’re at it, the right to vote is meaningful only if the votes are counted. Congress (and the Texas Legislature) must enact legislation to guarantee that electronic voting systems produce a voter verifiable paper trail and other safeguards to assure that the results of elections aren’t rigged and manipulated.

So anyone who relishes in the victory for democracy the recent Iraqi elections represent needs to be equally interested in securing equivalent rights for people in this county. The rights we have here were obtained through similar bravery and bloodshed and loss of life and the results of that courageousness cannot be allowed to lapse by congressional and presidential (Republican) inaction.

Mr. President and members of congress, if you really believe in the importance of the right to vote as you profess, prove it – extend the Voting Rights Act this year and enact a voter verifiable paper trail bill (and other safeguards for electronic voting systems) at once.
Your continued silence and inaction on these issues betray you as hypocrites. If you believe in the importance of the right to vote, do what needs to be done to secure those rights for American citizens, too.

Gerry Birnberg
Chair, Harris County Democratic Party
March 7, 2005

Archive of Gerry Birnberg's Messages

HCDP.org Home | Who We Are | Join Our Mailing List | Become a Volunteer | Become a Sustaining Member | Local Democratic Clubs | Events Calendar | Add Your Event | Find Your Elected Officials | Precinct Chairs | Useful Links