DANIEL J. PAUL

The floor screamed with creaks as the couple cautiously sauntered through the City Hall. They came to a halt by an open double doorway, and proceeded inside with a steady gait. Hesitantly they approached the election clerk, seated behind a desk. She quickly looked up and set her gaze on them.

With a hesitant voice, the man informed the clerk that he and his wife would like to vote in the election. However, she informed them that they hadn’t passed the literacy test and could not vote. Sadly, they turned and walked away. But, it did not end there, for later that night their home was vandalized, and the next morning he lost his job.

The above scenario is fictitious, but very similar occurrences in addition to poll taxes (many impoverished people could not pay the tax, thus they could not vote), and literacy tests (a test that was administered by white clerks who could pass or fail people at their own discretion with decisions often biased by race) had happened to a huge number of the African-Americans. As they continued to attempt to vote, other actions were perpetrated by white supremacists against them including harassment in the forms of economic intimidation and various acts of vendettas, often culminating in acts of violence.

These acts came to a tipping point with the shocking murder of Medgar Evers. Evers was Mississippi’s first state field secretary of the NAACP and a civil rights campaigner. Late one evening, while returning home from a meeting, he was fatally shot in the back by a sniper, who was a white supremacist. He died on the front steps of his home, in front of his wife and children.

After the murder, President John F. Kennedy requested that Congress develop a comprehensive voting rights bill. This bill not only garnered support from the House and Senate, but by civil rights activists, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The voting rights bill assured federal intervention to ensure that African-Americans have the right to vote and eliminated all tactics to inhibit them from voting. The bill was passed with bipartisan approval in the House of Representatives and Senate. The tally was as follows —

— U.S. House of Representatives: Democrats, 221 yeas and 61 nays; Republicans, 112 yeas and 24 nays.

— U.S. Senate: Democrats, 47 yeas and 16 nays; Republicans: 30 yeas and two nays.

On Aug. 6, 1965, then-President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, into law.

Our Declaration of Independence states that “All men are created equal, and that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The 24th Amendment to the Constitution ensured that these rights for all U.S. citizens–whether a minority or not–shall not be impeded in any way to vote.

These are the historical facts. Where are we today?

———

Daniel J. Paul is a retired school administrator. His articles focus on education, old-fashioned family values, relationships and other topics. Contact him at meaningfuldifferences@gmail.com.