One of the greatest achievements of the American Civil Rights movement was the enactment more than 60 years ago of a law known as the Voting Rights Act. Though it had several provisions, the basic objective of the law was simple – it was to eliminate centuries of deep-seated racial discrimination that had infected and polluted U.S. elections by assuring that all the nation’s citizens had an opportunity to be full participants in our democracy.
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Unfortunately, despite the progress the law has helped usher in and the fact that the country still has miles to travel in overcoming racial discrimination, opposition to the law and excuses for weakening it have been a constant ever since its enactment. And last month, opponents and excuse makers succeeded in convincing the U.S. Supreme Court to gut a key provision that had barred politicians from rigging elections to dilute the impact of minority voters. And recently, to get a better handle on this troubling news, Newsline caught up with Southern Coalition for Social Justice Senior Counsel Chris Shenton for a special two-part conversation in which we examined the ruling and the damage that it will cause.
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Click here to hear the full interview with Southern Coalition for Social Justice Senior Counsel Chris Shenton
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