In June 1964, thousands of people from all walks of life, of every color and creed, men and women, old and young, put their lives on hold and marched south for Freedom Summer. They faced violence, harassment, imprisonment, and sadly even death. Why? Because they wanted to help register African-American citizens to vote.
Every single person who put their life on the line then knew, just as we know now, that President Lyndon Johnson was correct when he said “the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice.”
It is why we bled then, and it is why we are still fighting now. Because even though we do not face firehoses and billy clubs today, the people‘s voting rights are still under attack.
Today, armed with advanced technology, politicians are disenfranchising voters with just the click of a button. Legislators and governors are manipulating the redistricting process to maximize partisan gain by intentionally decreasing the influence of minority voters.
In the 20th century, it was poll taxes and literacy tests. In the 21st century, it is racial gerrymandering and voter suppression. But the effect is the same: these efforts dilute the power of the vote for minorities and progressive groups in America.
Here in Georgia - the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - the legislature has methodically and deliberately gerrymandered districts to disenfranchise African-American voters, intentionally drawing state legislative lines on the basis of race to create safer Republican districts.
Today, we’re taking a step to change that. The National Redistricting Foundation is supporting Georgia voters who are bringing a lawsuit to challenge the state legislature’s 2015 redistricting plan on the grounds that it violates the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. This lawsuit builds on recent successes in North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas, where courts have overturned unlawful racial gerrymandering.
Redistricting is supposed to take place every 10 years, after the Census. But in 2015, Georgia legislators passed a mid-cycle redistricting bill to quash the voting power of minorities in the Atlanta suburbs, where elections are increasingly competitive. House Bill 566 moved minority voters in and out of House Districts predominantly based on the color of their skin. In addition, the legislature’s mid-cycle redistricting violated the Voting Rights Act by failing to draw additional districts in which African-American voters could elect the representative of their choice. Without these unlawful efforts to dilute the vote of African-Americans, there would likely be at least three additional African-American representatives in the Georgia state house.
Over the last half century, we have made great strides in protecting voting rights. Millions of citizens ‒ some of whom just a few generations ago wouldn’t have been allowed into a polling place ‒ have voted. But it is not enough to allow them to cast a ballot if the system is rigged to make sure that their votes don’t really count. Preventing the members of a particular community from electing a candidate of their choice denies them the right to fair representation and effectively silences their voice.
It is almost unthinkable that 53 years after Freedom Summer we would still be fighting to ensure that the votes of African-Americans are truly counted. Yet, that is exactly what we are doing today. The lawsuit in Georgia is one more step in our fight for representation that is both fair and consistent with the best of America.
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