Black People Have The Right To Vote In America??

[Mosiah]

this is getting creepy.

[Mosiah]

So you mean the Voting Rights Act does not expire in 2007?

[Lazie]

So you mean the Voting Rights Act does not expire in 2007?

This was taken from USA Today.

House renews 1965 Voting Rights Act


WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act, overcoming an attempt by conservatives to ease restrictions they said are no longer necessary.
The 390-33 vote preserves for 25 years a law enacted at a time when Southern states employed tactics to suppress black voting and was designed to ensure no state deny people the right to vote based on their race or color.

The act was due to expire in 2007. The Senate is likely to vote on the measure this month.

Supporters said the law is needed because minorities can still be treated unfairly when legislatures change rules or redraw districts.

"I gave blood. Some of my colleagues gave their very lives," said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., an activist in the Civil Rights Movement that led to the act's passage.

Lewis displayed photos of himself and others being beaten by state troopers in 1965 during a march from Selma to Alabama's capital of Montgomery in support of black voting rights. At the time, Alabama used intimidation to prevent blacks from voting.

"We must pass this act without any amendment, it is the right thing to do," he said to applause.

The law's renewal had attracted bipartisan support and the approval of President Bush. But representatives from states singled out by the act because of past discriminatory practices wanted changes.

Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., and a handful of conservatives proposed amendments to eliminate provisions requiring states like his to get federal approval before changing their voting procedures. They also proposed an end to multilingual ballots in certain states, saying it is unnecessary because proficiency in English is required for citizenship.

The South was being treated "as if nothing has changed in the last 41 years," said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga.

He said black Georgians today register to vote at higher percentages than whites and that elected black officials serve in the highest levels of state government.

"We have repented, and we have reformed, and as Fannie Lou Hamer famously said, 'I am sick and tired of being sick and tired,' " he said, invoking the name of the black Mississippi civil rights activist.

The measure has been renamed the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act to honor the civil rights activists.

House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., led supporters in blocking the amendments. Among those defeated was a proposal to limit the act's renewal period to 10 years and elimination of a provision that requires the Justice Department to monitor some local elections.

Just before the vote, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said the act should remain as is. She said that while voter poll taxes and literacy tests are now illegal, a federal judge as recently as Wednesday ruled that Georgia's law to require government-issued identification cards discriminated against minorities.

"Don't disrespect the civil rights movement," Waters said. "Show the world that America is sincere about democracy."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...ngrights_x.htm

[Muadib]

So you mean the Voting Rights Act does not expire in 2007?

Mi nuh know but at least dem have one... wi coulda duh wid one down here.

[Mosiah]

It is a fact that the Voting Rights Act expires in 2007.

[Muadib]

When we going to implement our Voting Rights act ?

[Mosiah]

Why do we need one?

[Muadib]

Heh, heh...

Depends where you live..