Blog 2

Civil Rights in Memphis, the home of so many life-changing civil right events, has never been dead. It had always been an ongoing battle that we are reminded of everyday when we look at redlining, gentrification, or simply how blacks are treated daily. But the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision brings the focus of the country back to our fair city. The decision is deja-vu, as it discusses voting restrictions that seem all too familiar to African Americans.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s majority invalidated sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Section 4 established a formula to identify disenfranchisement and section 5 required federal review of proposed state changes to voting laws. The justices held that “Section 4’s formula is unconstitutional in light of current conditions.” By 2009, voter suppression had become “eradicated practices,” the court held.

But evidence suggests this isn’t the case. Before the ink was dry on Shelby County, Republican North Carolina legislators proposed H.B. 589. This required voters to present a driver’s license or state-identification card at the polls, which imposes a burden on would-be voters. A 2013 study by the North Carolina Board of Elections found that the law would disenfranchise 318,643 out of 6.4 million eligible North Carolina voters, including an overwhelming number of African Americans, 85 percent of whom were registered Democrats. A Buncombe County election official offered support for the measure in an interview, saying, “If it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks that want the government to give them everything, so be it.” That sentiment echoes a trend toward political exclusion of the past. Today over half the states of the former Confederacy require voter identification at the polls, which disproportionately affects African Americans and low-income voters.

Sadly our country has not matured as much as we would have hoped. These kind of restrictions were implemented after African Americans were legally allowed to place their ballot. These restrictions were absurd and strictly put into action to try and prohibit African Americans from voting. Some examples of these are having to be grandfathered into the clause or having to own land.

This is a great example of the systemic racism that still thrives within our country. The same ideas are still alive and well, and prohibiting our country from being ‘free for all’. The Civil Rights of Memphis acts will continue to occur as long as our city stays predominantly black, and our country stays racist.