History of 1965 Voting Rights Act
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was instrumental in organizing a mass march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, that created national support for federal voting-rights legislation.
Despite the fact that Africa
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) warns that African-American and Hispanic-Americans could lose their voting rights. The largest civil rights group in the US, the NAACP, has sent a petition to the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner on Human Rights regarding the coordinated efforts by local and state governments to weaken African-American and Latino-American voting rights ahead of the 2012 presidential primary and general elections.
The NAACP calls these voter suppression efforts the “most vicious, coordinated and sinister attack to narrow participation in our democracy since the early 20th century.”
Fourteen states have passed 25 laws unfairly restricting the right to vote, among black and Hispanic voters in particular. These fourteen states are among the fastest growing in the number of blacks (Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina) and the number of Latinos (South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee). The NAACP insists that this no coincidence, since these same populations turned out in record numbers to vote in the 2008 presidential election, voting heavily Democratic.
In that year, black and Hispanic voters turned out in record numbers, partly in a wave of enthusiasm for Barack Obama. More than 2 million extra black voters turned out over 2004, an increase of 15%.
Among Latinos, the upturn was even more pronounced. Two million additional voters attended the polls – a rise of 28% on the previous presidential election.
Ethnic minority groups are not the only electorate at risk of losing their voting rights. Other traditionally Democratic voting groups, such as college students, seniors and poorer Americans, are also vulnerable.
In Texas, a law was recently passed that prevents students from voting when using their college ID cards, while allowing anyone to cast their ballot if they present a permit to carry a concealed handgun.
Four states – Florida, Iowa,
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Preventing the exorbitant cost of student mobility
The societal cost of a high school dropout has been calculated into actual dollars and cents and circulated for public awareness. What is less known, though, is the exorbitant cost to a child’s potential achievement caused by switching schools for reasons other than grade level progression – an ...
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No one denies – at least openly – that racial profiling is bad practice. The question at hand, and one raised during a Senate Committee hearing on civil and human rights last week, is how to end it.
On Tuesday, April 17, the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights ...
Community honors beloved poet, humanitarian
Praise, good memories and unconditional love were abundant this week as friends and family gathered to remember humanitarian and poet Abelardo “Lalo” Delgado at the 5th Annual Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival held at the St. Cajetan’s Center on the Auraria Campus, sponsored by the MSCD President’s ...
Young mothers share literary inspirations
The roots of Día de los Niños (April 30th) began in Latin América as a holiday honoring children and has been adopted by the United States with a variety of festivities that highlight the beauty of children Through The Weekly Issue/El Semanario’s Student Writing Project, we highlight the ...
No one denies – at least openly – that racial profiling is bad practice. The question at hand, and one raised during a Senate Committee hearing on civil and human rights last week, is how to end it.
On Tuesday, April 17, the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights ...
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