The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is
hemorrhaging. First, the knife to its gut
with the Shelby
County v. Holder ruling in 2013. Then came the
machete to the legs with Louisiana
v. Callais in 2026.
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
has been languishing in Congress for over
five years. So much for honoring the legacy
and sacrifice of a civil rights icon. This
country can eliminate the facade of support
for voting rights by ending all future
legislation aimed at protecting and
enhancing voting.
The 15th Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution gave Black men the right to
vote. Fifty years later, Black women got the
right to vote, along with all women
citizens, with the passage of the 19th
Amendment. If local, state, and federal
governments had done their due diligence to
enforce these Constitutional amendments,
there would be no need for the VRA of 1965.
In 2026, Black voters are still being
singled out to jump through hoops to vote.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act was
mainly to protect the voting rights of Black
folks. The crown jewel of the Civil Rights
Movement called for reauthorization of
certain sections, initially every five
years. This opened up the door to partisan
politricking. As the nation moved to the
right, the erosion of the once-potent act
has left the VRA weak and unprotected. In
the current racist political climate and
with MAGA at the helm, Black folks seem to
be one legislative stroke away from being
full-fledged citizens.
The John Lewis Act seeks to restore
key sections of the 1965 act and provide
additional protections. One of the main
reasons the Republicans in the Senate
refused to pass the Lewis Act is that it
allegedly gave the federal government too
much authority over state election laws. It
also asserts that existing laws already
prohibit racial discrimination in voting, so
there is no need for another law. This
assertion is exactly what I’m underscoring:
there are laws on top of laws, and none are
being seriously enforced.
That part about the feds having
“too much authority over state election
laws” illuminates the shameless games the
MAGA monsters are playing. The tyrannical
head of their bullying club has attempted to
use his executive power to suppress the vote
and rig elections. The MAGA monsters have
aimed their arsenal at unwilling local,
county, and state officials. Trump and his
cronies are wasting time and our money
challenging existing processes and laws.
They are being aided and abetted by GOP
electioneers, state attorneys general, and
the highest court in the land. I would call
this too much authority. I would call this
federal overreach. I would say this is
playing games with our rights.
The MAGA tactics of creating
confusion and fear have been unleashed with
a fury. Obstacles have been unnecessarily
created for voters, from making mail-in
voting more difficult to inventing
gerrymandered maps. As for fomenting fear,
threats to send ICE or the National Guard to
polling sites are designed to make citizens
think twice about getting out to vote.
If Blacks, Latinas, and their
allies are going to be in an endless fight
for the right to vote, I propose that fight
be at the constitutional level. If you
combine Amendments 15 and 19, they prohibit
the federal government and states from
denying any citizen the right to vote based
on race, color, or sex. Simply, all citizens
have the right to vote.
The defenders of democracy must
acknowledge that the judicial and
legislative branches have fallen under the
MAGA spell. The deliberate attacks on voting
rights will not end with the midterm
elections in November. But we can start a
national conversation on voting rights now
that educates a nation about the sanctity of
the vote and rejects the notion of voting as
a perpetual distraction. This is what
democracy looks like.
