Groups vow action to bolster Voting Rights Act

Metro Detroit civil rights leaders gathered Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and to pledge action against what they call efforts to suppress minority turnout.

“The struggle still continues now 50 years later,” said the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch NAACP, speaking at a news conference at the civil rights group’s office on Second Avenue. “We must not turn back the clock on the progress as voting oppression is still happening today.”

Anthony and other officials, including U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, said minorities face a campaign that has rolled back some of the gains made since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act on Aug. 6, 1965. Before the law was passed, African-Americans faced poll taxes, literacy tests and other measures meant to prevent them from voting, especially in Southern states.

Conyers, the lone remaining member of Congress who voted to enact the Voting Rights Act, said he skipped a White House meeting to fly to Detroit for the news conference because he wanted to stress the importance of strengthening the law.

He has sponsored legislation to restore federal oversight of areas that historically discriminated against black voters in response to a 2011 Supreme Court ruling, Shelby County v. Holder, that lifted such scrutiny. Conyers also is sponsoring a bill to set national standards for early voting.

“We are the driving force to push legislation forward,” Conyers said. “We initiated ‘Take your Soles to the Polls’ campaign and we are here to assist in getting no-excuses absentee ballots approved and increase early voting hours.”

Michigan is one of 13 states that requires an excuse for an absentee ballot, something civil rights activists want to change.

“Black and brown is going to be around and if we band together we can change these laws and break down barriers in government,” Anthony said.

The celebration of the Voting Rights Act came a day after a federal appeals panel struck down a strict voter ID law in Texas, saying it was “discriminatory” and intended to discourage blacks and Hispanics from voting.

“Repressive voting ID laws have so far disenfranchised 600,000 Texans because of not having sufficient ID,” Anthony said.

NAACP and ACLU officials said more than 92 restrictive election bills were introduced in 33 states as of December 2013.

While saluting the legacy of civil rights groups that helped achieve passage of the Voting Rights Act a half century ago, officials at Thursday’s news conference said a new generation needs to be educated and included in efforts to protect and expand voter participation.

“We still need to build a partnership with today’s generation and the past,” said Duron Marshall, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield. “The youth may feel that they are not being heard, but we want to make sure they are not losing the message, that more work still needs to be done.”

ksmith3@detroitnews.com