Call for a Coalition of Conscience Protecting Civil Rights and Voting Rights Today Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. 3/27/2005 Atlanta, Georgia

It’s time to go back to the streets – to organize “bottom-up” to protect and defend hard won victories of the last 40, even 80 years: the Republican right has taken full aim at the successful social programs that provide a safety net for all Americans established under FDR’s New Deal, LBJ’s Great Society, and Dr. King democratic revolution, for in their view, government has no social role to play to protect the welfare of working families and the poor.

We have no economic plan to reinvest in America and to put America back to work. Most states still suffer from a loss of jobs in the last 4 years, 45 million American are without health care insurance. Companies outsource jobs and offshore businesses to avoid paying taxes. They export jobs and capital, and import jobs and cheap products. The Wal-Martization of the economy spells doom for working families.

This administration ignores the PRESENT danger in Medicare funding, and instead cries wolf about Social Security. Over 1/3 of the government programs that the Bush administration plans to cut are in education, putting the future of our children at risk. Yet, the Bush administration wants to make permanent his tax cuts for the wealthiest of American. His economic philosophy seems to be “no ceiling for the wealthiest, no floor for the poor.” And to deepen the pain, this administration spends $6 billion per month to continue the war and occupation in Iraq, a war of choice we simply can no longer afford.

But while education faces Bush’s budget ax, the jail industrial complex for profit continues to expand. It has now become the #1 growth industry in numerous southern states, a new form of political exploitation and economic development.

So we take our agenda back to the streets and call for a national March and Rally August 6, 2005, in Atlanta, Georgia. A rally to fight for the Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. A rally to fight for jobs and health care. A rally to fight for equal, high quality education for all Americans. A rally to stop the war in Iraq. A new coalition of conscience ready to fight back for peace, justice and equality, building a New Democracy Movement in America this spring and summer.

At the heart of the agenda is the right to vote, which precedes, preserves and protects all other rights. Therefore it is of utmost importance that we preserve, protect and if necessary expand the provisions of the Voting Rights Act, set to expire in 2007 unless reauthorized by the Congress.

In the 40 years since the Voting Rights Act was passed, African Americans in public office have soared from 300 in 1964 to more than 9100 today. From three members of Congress to 43 today. More than 6,000 have been elected and appointed nationwide, 27 who now serve in Congress. Asian Americans and Native Americans historically shut out of the political process have also moved toward full political participation and empowerment.

Key provisions of the Voting Rights Act must be reauthorized before they expire in 2007:
Section 5 contains the “pre-clearance” provisions of the VRA – requiring jurisdictions in all or part of 16 states under the VRA to prove to the Department of Justice that a voting change does NOT have a discriminatory purpose of effect on minority voters, BEFORE that change can be implemented. Examples are plans for redistricting, annexation, at-large elections, re-registration requirements, polling place changes, and new rules for candidate qualifying.

Section 203 requires more than 450 counties and townships under the VRA to provide bilingual language assistance to limited English speaking voters.

Section 6-9 authorizes the Department of Justice to appoint examiners and send observers to the polls to deter, witness or report discriminatory activities.

The original 1965 Voting Rights Act made these provisions TEMPORARY, subject to reauthorization by Congress based on evidence that the NEED for these provisions continues to exist, that remedies are “narrowly tailored” and “proportionate” to the harms it seeks to cure.

But now some Republican leaders are suggesting that the law be made “national and permanent.” That sounds good. But beware. By proposing to make the VRA “national and permanent,” the Congress would set up the VRA for being ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. These wolves in sheep’s clothing really aim to attack and eliminate the Vaoting Rights Act as we know it.

Making the VRA “permanent and national” would take it beyond the scope of the original statutes. In the 1982 reauthorization, Congress acknowledged two Supreme Court decisions which “expressed the concern that Congress permanently subject jurisdictions to the unusually stringent remedy of preclearance.” And the U.S. Supreme Court is armed with several recent legal precedents it could use to declare the VRA unconstitutional for not being “narrowly tailored” or “congruent and proportional” to address the harms it is designed to cure, as required by the Supreme Court’s recent precedents.

So there is a NEED TO ESTABLISH A NEW RECORD OF EVIDENCE to document for Congress the continued need for the Voting Rights Act enforcement provisions, and to set forth the history of racial discrimination in voting since the 1982 reauthorization. A National Commission on the Voting Rights Act, spearheaded by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, has been established and is holding hearings, gather evidence, and submit a comprehensive report to Congress.

We will not turn back. We will fight take our fight to the streets. We will be taking the fight back to the South for the right to vote. For the right of workers to organize. For the right to education and health care. For peace in Iraq.

So today, America’s leading activists in civil rights, human rights, women’s rights and workers’ rights join forces with the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to forge a new coalition of conscience to march and rally on August 6 – the 40th anniversary of LBJ’s signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.