Voting Rights

On Saturday Linda and I drove to Manhattan to see an exhibit on political posters at the New York Historical Society’s museum on 77th Street across from Central Park.  The posters were wonderful, but we also saw an exhibit of photos by Stephen Somerstein of the 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights for African-Americans.

It was shortly after that march that the Voting Rights Act was passed, a bill supported by both Democrats and Republicans.

Now Ari Berman has written a book about recent attempts to roll back those rights.  It is entitled “Give Us the Ballot:  The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America.”  It details the attempts by conservatives and racists and the U.S. Supreme Court to roll back the guarantees of the Voting Rights Act.  

Battles to extend freedom in this country are never final.  We must always refight them, always push back against the forces of racism and bigotry.  I am tired of fighting, but we don’t have a choice.  We have to battle back.