Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy

Abstract

In August 2013, we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. On August 28, 1963, over 250,000 people converged on the National Mall to fight for “jobs and freedom.” A central demand of the marchers was the passage of meaningful civil rights legislation, including laws to end discrimination in voting and to free African Americans from the chains of “political and economic slavery.” The march culminated with Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech in which he pronounced: “[w]e cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote, and the Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.” The Voting Rights Act of 19653 was passed just two years after the March, helping to usher in a new age of African American political participation. The Act’s success is remarkable and undeniable. Indeed, its enactment was a turning point in “the struggle to end discriminatory treatment of minorities who seek to exercise one of the most fundamental rights of our citizens: the right to vote.” But, the progress of the past 50 years has effectively come to a halt. The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby Cnty v. Holder is the latest and perhaps most potent attack on equal political participation. Shelby neuters one of the most effective tools in our arsenal against political repression, empowering jurisdictions to once again erect barriers to minority voting. Fifty years after the March on Washington, citizens of color have nominal freedom, but true equal citizenship remains elusive.

First Page

69

DOI

https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38X90R

Volume

16

Publication Date

2015

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