Political Quotes

“I mentioned during my remarks that we have been on this journey of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution to try to guarantee the right to vote, regardless of race, coming out of the oppression of chattel slavery. And then we moved, Representative Beatty, from the 15th Amendment to this Jim Crow period and the 1965 Voting Rights Act to try to bring to life what is a fundamental tenet of American democracy, which is the ability of the people to represent those who will represent them in government--government of the people, by the people, and for the people. But yet, as a result of a recent Supreme Court decision, Shelby County v. Holder, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, section 4 and section 5, the preclearance provisions, have been eviscerated because of, in my view, an inappropriate reading of that statute relative to the United States Constitution. So the Congressional Black Caucus continues to fight to uplift for all Americans the ability to participate in our democracy. The shame is that voting in this country seems to have become a partisan issue, notwithstanding the fact that the Voting Rights Act has a great bipartisan tradition. It was passed with the support of Democrats and Republicans because, of course, we know at the time there were Dixiecrats in this Congress--Democrats, by registration, in the Deep South who fought hard against voting rights.…”