Legislatively Speaking
By Senator, Lena C. Taylor
Senator Taylor Reflects With Nation on the Continued Struggle for Voting Rights
Lena C. Taylor
Last week, many joined the country in honoring Selma’s storied Bloody Sunday.
We echoed the praise for the six hundred civil rights activists, who put their lives on the line that Sunday, March 7, 1965, to achieve voting equality for African-Americans.
In a clarion call, to bring attention to the blatant disregard for Black voting rights in Selma, Alabama, civil rights organizers set out to make the issue a national concern.
Bloody Sunday is etched in history. However, there are present attempts to erode everything that the day stood for and has come to represent.
Republicans, nationally, have set in motion systematic efforts to limit access to voting via reduced polling locations, limited hours, early voting restrictions, and the ever looming goal to require voters to present a photo ID at the polls.
African Americans, in particular, are most often the targets of the battle to marginalize or completely silence votes and voices.
In fact, Republicans such as Pennsylvania House Leader Mike Turzai (R-PA) admitted at a 2012 Republican State Committee meeting, that voter identification efforts are meant to suppress Democratic votes in elections, when he said “Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”
Similar sentiments have been expressed by Republican leaders from around the country.
These actions are directly intended to undermine the work of the Selma activists.
Their legacy and the important civil rights laws they championed must be protected.
U.S. Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) have introduced a resolution to explicitly guarantee the right to vote in the Constitution.
While most Americans believe voting is guaranteed, there is no such expression in the U.S. Constitution.
I support this legislation and am working on a similar bill to protect the right to vote in Wisconsin.
As we reflect on the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, we must concede that it comes at an interesting time in our nation.
Whether as a result of the protests from Madison to St. Louis, the mantra ‘Black Lives Matter’, has become a rallying cry that has expanded to address racial disparities across the gamut.
Without viewing the national studies that have been done, we know that Wisconsin consistently top negative indicators for policies and practices that disproportionately impact African-Americans.
Milwaukee, in particular, faces systemic barriers that include voting, education, health, incarceration, and employment.
As President Barack Obama said in his speech commemorating Selma, we have made great strides.
Our progress on many fronts cannot be denied. However, to fully honor the work of those who went before us, maintain and exceed their expectations, we must remain diligent.
It is because of their sacrifices that I, in part, serve in the legislature. The work is far from done.