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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is considered to be a milestone in the history of America. When Restoration came to an end, many African Americans were restricted from casting their votes often by threatening them to lose their livelihood and imposing violence. The right to vote was denied to people on the basis of their race, servitude and color which only left fewer section of the society to be eligible to cast their vote which included the male African Americans. However, no female African Americans of any background were permitted to be a part of the election system of the country. The southern regions particularly resisted to such discriminations and demanded their rights to vote. Some of the states also had literacy states which were conducted to test the literacy among people which only permitted people to cast their votes. Whereas, in some regions, it can be said that direct manners of racial discrimination were to be found as only the white population were allowed to be part of the voting system. This, as a result, led to the development of Civil Rights Movement and gathered attention of the Congress. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was, thus, a result of the long movement, which was signed by President Lyndon Johnson to ensure the justice and protection of the people and their rights against the discrimination which took place for years. The Thesis is that Civil Rights Movement and Voting Rights Act has been historical yet there persists forces of suppression within the American Society.
The Act had changed the course of history by legitimizing access, power and identity of African Americans as they were allowed to register themselves to cast their votes and also be elected and represent people in offices across the nation. The Fifteenth Amendment of the constitution put an end to the discrimination though there were several other attempts to exclude people of races and color who were considered to be backward in the society. The contemporary picture of the nation is quite different from what it was before but it can be argued whether or not is guarantees its citizen equal rights. There has been creative exclusion within the society which were primarily directed towards classes and races which are looked down upon by the white population for which, Andrews opines that Freedom is nothing but a constant state of struggle.
A strategy which is often deployed by the powerful is to discourage people to abstain from casting their votes, specifically a section of the society to have a relative impact on the result as desired, as put forward by Baldwin. This results in the reduction of the number of voters or alteration in responses in favor or against a proposition or candidate. Suppression can be created through intimation or by violence. In America, it varies as elections are conducted and administered by local bodies of governance. While it was limited to the white males of the country initially the suppression was directed towards other groups of the society. Some of the laws which were imposed on the citizens included grandfather clauses, literacy tests and poll taxes which basically were tactics which discriminated the minorities and did not allow them to cast their votes. This was taken down by Voting Rights Act in 1965 as it declared such laws to be illegal. In some parts of U.S., issue of a Voter ID required other authorization such as driver’s license, military identification and so on, which were discriminatory in nature.
There were other stringent regulatory forces which were imposed among voters which were more like diseases rather than aiding the situation. The laws which existed restricted people to have legal voter IDs as it was a tedious and strict procedure to be authenticated by the government to be a part of the voting system. This led to disenfranchisement which was viewed as a situation of worsening of events and law and order within a state rather than improvement of the procedure of election as it failed to enable the minority classes to be a part of the celebration of democracy in the nation, which is Election system as argued by Ruth, Matusitz and Simi. It was already a difficult process to obtain a voter ID for people, in addition Department of Motor Vehicles started closing down in many minority areas which sanctioned and allowed the residents to be able to vote and retain their voter IDs. Whereas, there was rapid increase of impersonation and fraudulence regarding issuance of Voter ID among people which can be assessed as a worsening of affairs.
It has been seen that in minority areas, influence and organized suppression has been the case to keep people away from the process of voting. This deprives people from their fundamental rights to be part of the voting system and prolonged practice of discrimination. This was carried out by shutting down of government institutions which gives access to people living in minority communities and regions. The resources are curbed from the minority communities systematically which are required in order to run the system efficiently. As a result, fraudulence increased in such areas in order to retain voting passes.
Donald Trump, as the president established a commission to ensure integrity during elections, which have been viewed as a systematic approach to propagate suppression on people. According to Mickey Levitisky and Ahmad Way, radicalization and polarization has been there and weakened the democracy rather than enhancing it since its democratization. This was established, according to Trump, in order to ensure the reduction rates of fraudulence whereas, the true purpose of the initiative, as believed by many critics, is suppression and intimidation on voters. It is done with the help of Crosscheck database which is supposed to ensure that voters are only registered in a single state to have their votes casted against their date of births. Whereas it has also created discrimination and false positives, as recorded by many researches which were conducted. It was found that it restricted voting rights of people in Kansas.
Even during the 21st century there have been instances of invalidation of votes in many regions, which were later found to have been casted by majority of black voters. The protection of Voting Rights was ensured to have been of great importance and had to be ensured, by Supreme Court. Whereas, in 2013, African Americans were targeted in North Carolina during elections. It has also been seen that there has been increase in voter turnout after 2000 significantly. This has been looked at, as being the precise reason behind suppression, in order to create influence. Racial Discrimination and lack of protection of voting rights of people are nothing but assaults made on democracy.
The research methodology which has been opted for, in this paper is qualitative and secondary. The collection of data is secondary by inspection of policies, cases and occurrences related to voting rights, elections as found in academic articles, news reports, books and journals. The evaluation which have been conducted during this study is qualitative in nature by employing analysis. The thematic analysis which have been adopted during this research has different themes and assesses situations with respect to the reality found in the contemporary society since the emergence of the Voting Rights Act which followed after Civil Rights Movement which demanded authorization and access to fundamental rights of people and equality.
The American constitution has its foundation laid on equality and freedom of citizens. Whereas, there has been numerous instances of exclusion from the society which are systematic and suppressed the voice of minority communities on the basis of their color and race. The nation which intended to embrace equality to be one of its pillars of constitution has had policies which prevented people of minority classes from participating in elections. These have been part of the policymaking system of the American governance. As a result, it has been noted that African American have been victims in such situations in electoral processes even after 150 years of the end of slavery. The White supremacy still persists and weakens the democracy as Blacks are segregated and excluded from several processes as Dierenfield opines. The suppression of Black Voters even existed decades back but it has only taken shape of a more polished and organized practice in America, as witnesses and put forward by different researchers in their study.
Though the nation struggled and tried to eradicate radical racism which festers the structure which excludes and suppresses African American and backward communities, it has failed to uproot such forces completely. Power is concentrated in the hands of the privileged classes which are considered to be supreme. The research shows that many people lack their rights to vote, even today as they are unable to obtain their Voter IDs due to stringent rules and regulations and ignorance of the country towards these communities. The policies lack prioritization of important aspects which would ensure the correct functioning of democracy without suppression and exclusion of people and their valuable Voting Rights.
It can thus be said that a democracy is only strengthened by the participation of the people. The picture has been distorted since the times of Civil Rights Movement. The movement rose into prominence due to the discrimination which prohibited African Americans and women from casting their votes. Whereas, there has been acceptance and legalization of people’s rights to cast their votes since the establishment of Voting Rights Act in 1965 but there has remained forces of exclusion and suppression which continue to influence election and intimidate people to stay aloof from electoral practices. Representation have increased but policy making in the nation needs to be aimed at restoring participation of people in elections without discriminatory practices.
Andrews, Kenneth T. Freedom is a constant struggle: The Mississippi civil rights movement and its legacy. University of Chicago Press, 2018.
Baldwin, Bridgette. "Backsliding: The United States Supreme Court, Shelby County v. Holder and the Dismantling of Voting Rights Act of 1965." Berkeley J. Afr.-Am. L. & Pol'y 16 (2014): 251.
Bloom, Jack M. Class, race, and the civil rights movement. Indiana University Press, 2019.
Button, James W. Blacks and social change: Impact of the civil rights movement in southern communities. Vol. 1029. Princeton University Press, 2014.
Dierenfield, Bruce J. The Civil Rights Movement: Revised Edition. Routledge, 2013.
Earle, Jonathan. The Routledge Atlas of African American History. Routledge, 2016.
Liptak, Adam. "Supreme court invalidates key part of voting rights act." New York Times 25 (2013).
Mickey, Robert, Steven Levitisky, and Lucan Ahmad Way. "Is America still safe for democracy: Why the United States is in danger of backsliding." Foreign Aff. 96 (2017): 20.
Polletta, Francesca. "The structural context of novel rights claims: Southern civil rights organizing, 1961-1966." Law and Social Movements. Routledge, 2017. 97-136.
Ruth, Terrance, Jonathan Matusitz, and Demi Simi. "Ethics of disenfranchisement and voting rights in the US: Convicted felons, the homeless, and immigrants." American journal of criminal justice 42.1 (2017): 56-68.
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