Lemme start this by saying I'm not racist.
I'm about accuracy. And this article from CNN--compelling and empathetic as it may be--is not accurate.
Oh, sure. The events occurred and everything that's in there is true--except for one small thing. Anyone catch it?
The Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This Act did not, in my opinion, do anything. Why do I say this? Because.
IT WAS ALREADY WRITTEN IN THE CONSTITUTION ALMOST 100 YEARS EARLIER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of my all-time favorite orators is Frederick Douglass. This man fought for what wanted. As a slave, he taught himself to read. He educated himself. He became the very thing that the white men were so afraid of--a literate slave. He escaped his slavery and began speaking around the country for abolition. Do NOT tarnish this man's work simply because there were Southern states who were NOT upholding the US Constitution!
It's there in black and white, folks. Amendment 15, ratified in 1870:
1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.That's right! No STATE can deny the right of a black, red, yellow, brown, pink, purple, turquoise man (at that time) the right to vote. None. Zero. Zip. And the States knew this! How do I know? Because it's a Constitutional Amendment which requires 2/3 majority for ratification.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Guess what?
The Voting Rights Act is REDUNDANT! The Civil Rights Division even states that Act follows the 15th Amendment's wording. They claim that there was no way to effectively enforce the 15th Amendment. Sure there is! If I were to violate the Constitution, my butt get slapped in prison with a felony charge. Why not try levying that on the people responsible for not following the Constitution that they've sworn to uphold?
Oh, right...because the entire GOVERNMENT would be in the slammer.
I fully believe that the government is trying to disempower its own people because, where there's a lack of knowledge and understanding, the people become sheep and accept whatever malarky is shoveled in their faces.
Is the Voting Rights Act wrong? No. It did do some very important things. What is -wrong- is that people believe this to be the time when blacks were given the right to vote.
WRONG.
Blacks had the right to vote (covered in a legal, federal document) in 1870. In some states, blacks always had the right to vote. Don't buy the bull that the 1960's brought all these revolutionary changes that had already happened long before you and I were even thought about. Did great things come out of the '60's? Yep. Is it something to celebrate? If you really want. But, know your history. Know your rights under the Constitution. Know these documents the government likes to say they hold in high regard.
...and when you go on Final Jeopardy, just remember, 1870 granted blacks the right to vote and 1920 gave women the right to vote. Douglass made this very telling statement to a rather vocal Women's Rights advocate: "When women because they are women are dragged from their homes and hung upon lampposts, .....then they will have the urgency to obtain the ballot."
