Patrick Leahy: “I am going to join him in introducing a bill to include Cesar Chavez among the names of the great civil rights leaders…”

“I am going to join him in introducing a bill to include Cesar Chavez among the names of the great civil rights leaders we honored in the title of last year's Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. When we were considering this legislation in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Salazar made a compelling argument why that name, an American hero's name, should be added to the bill: because he devoted and sacrificed his life to empower the most vulnerable in America, as did Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King. Cesar Chavez's name should be added to the law as an important recognition of the broad landscape of political inclusion made possible by the Voting Rights Act. This bill would not alter the act's vital remedies to address continuing discrimination in voting, but rather it is overdue recognition of the importance of the Voting Rights Act to Hispanic-Americans.”