[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 95 (Wednesday, July 19, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1461-E1462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




FANNIE LOU HAMER, ROSA PARKS, AND CORETTA SCOTT KING VOTING RIGHTS ACT 
               REAUTHORIZATION AND AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 13, 2006

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Chairman, nearly 150 years ago, after a long and 
bloody civil war, our Nation recognized that minorities should have the 
right to participate as full citizens in our democracy. Unfortunately, 
granting a right in the constitution and enforcing that right 
throughout America are two different challenges, and 100 years later, 
minorities still have trouble casting a ballot in some parts of the 
country. In 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act to put an end 
to the racially discriminatory voting practices plaguing the South, and 
other parts of the country. Now 40 years have gone by, and some of my 
colleagues might tell you that we don't need the Voting Rights Act 
anymore, that we've fixed the problems, and that every adult citizen in 
this country has the same opportunity to cast his or her ballot.
  While I truly wish that were the case, I'm here to tell you that 
racially discriminatory voting practices are still alive and well in 
many parts of the United States. For a clear example of why the Voting 
Rights Act remains relevant and necessary, take a look at Robert 
Kennedy Jr.'s exhaustively researched article which just ran in Rolling 
Stone Magazine--I ask unanimous consent to insert a copy of the article 
into the record. In his article, Robert Kennedy, Jr. lays out a clear 
pattern of voting irregularities in Ohio in 2004, many of which 
disenfranchised African American voters in particular. Together, these 
irregularities may have even played a part in the outcome of the 
election.
  Mr. Chairman, from Buffalo to Rochester, my district is home to some 
of the most significant moments in the history of the civil rights 
movement. In 1847, abolitionist Frederick Douglass began circulating 
the North Star in Rochester, New York. The paper won acclaim from the 
local printer's union, gave Mr. Douglass a platform to spread his 
message of civil rights, and demonstrated the successes possible for 
free African Americans. In July 1905, the Niagara Movement held a 
meeting in Buffalo during which W.E.B. DuBois authored the Declaration 
of Principles. This document would later become the basis of the 
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, our 
Nation's most prominent civil rights organization.
  I am proud to represent a district with such a rich history in civil 
rights, and am fully committee to ensuring that the protections that 
courageous activists from Buffalo and Rochester worked so hard to 
achieve are diminished.

[[Page E1462]]

  North Star bore the motto, ``Right is of no sex--Truth is of no 
color--God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren.'' I hope 
that motto will guide my colleagues as we consider legislation to 
reauthorize the Voting Rights Act. Our democracy relies upon the ideal 
that everyone has an equal voice in each election, and the Voting 
Rights Act has been a vital component in ensuring that this ideal is 
enforced. Our Nation has come a long way in protecting the voting 
rights of minorities, but we still have a long way to go.
  To weaken the Voting Rights Act would weaken our democracy itself, 
and everything we stand for as Americans.

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