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I am so deeply moved by John Lewis' death. Too often now, the fight over voting rights gets framed as a political issue ("how will this law impact the election?"). Yes, it's political, but John Lewis so forcefully showed us that it's so much more than that. It's a moral issue.
Today I'm thinking of the hallowed ground in Selma where John Lewis marched.
But I'm also thinking about Crystal Mason, who faces a 5-year prison sentence for trying to cast a provisional vote in the 2016 election that didn't count https://www.huffpost.com/entry/crystal-mason-prison-sentence_n_5d3b04e8e4b0c31569e9fb94
I'm thinking about Alfonzo Tucker, an Alabama man who was blocked from voting in the 2018 election because he owed $4 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/27/alabama-voting-rights-alfonzo-tucker
I'm thinking about Pleasant Grove, a city in Alabama where African Americans make up a majority of the population, yet no African American candidate has ever won a seat on the city council https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/28/alabama-pleasant-grove-fight-to-vote
I'm thinking about Lanisha Bratcher, an African American woman in North Carolina who faces time in prison for voting while ineligible in 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/16/north-carolina-felony-vote-law-black-woman
I'm thinking about the organizers in southern California who stood outside a jail handing out voter registration applications to people as they're released in the middle of the night because the sheriff wouldn't let them inside https://www.huffpost.com/entry/register-to-vote-southern-california-orange-county_n_5bd22882e4b0a8f17ef5c9e2
I'm thinking about a federal judge who wrote last month that voting rights disputes are essentially political squabbles that courts can't do little to stop https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/30/wisconsin-voting-restrictions-reinstated-republican-victory
I'm thinking about the senate majority leader, who issued a lengthly press release praising Lewis today, but said just four days ago “There’s very little tangible evidence of this whole voter-suppression nonsense that the Democrats are promoting." https://www.wsj.com/articles/mitch-mcconnell-signals-limits-on-race-related-policy-changes-11594733555
I'm thinking about the same senate majority leader who has declined to take up a bill, sponsored by John Lewis, to implement a new formula for the Voting Rights Act.
I'm thinking about the United States Supreme Court that has stepped in to uphold voting restrictions in every single voting case that has come before it this year https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/11/supreme-court-justices-liberal-conservatives
I am so deeply moved by John Lewis' death and the fight of his life. But it is so clear it is far from over.
