movements

With Congress failing to pass new voting rights legislation, it’s worth remembering that throughout U.S. history, new civil rights laws designed to end racial inequities across American life have been met by stubborn resistance. Senate Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona joined Senate Republicans in blocking both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. These bills would have combated voter suppression by creating a national automatic voter registration system, and they also would have banned partisan gerrymandering. In the wake of the vote, President Joe Biden said he was “profoundly disappointed that the United States Senate has failed to stand up for democracy.” These setbacks in Congress come on the heels of millions ...

Anthony Siracusa, University of Colorado Boulder With Congress considering legislation to protect voting rights and address police accountability, it’s worth remembering that throughout U.S. history new civil rights laws have been followed by resistance and the stubborn persistence of racial inequity across American life. Still, these discussions in Congress come on the heels of millions of Americans calling for change. The demonstrations that followed George Floyd’s death belonged to a broader effort to reckon with white violence and discrimination in U.S. life. The historical roots of our contemporary racial injustice were documented in the 1619 Project, a New York Times undertaking that reexamined the legacy of slavery in the U.S. This year’s widespread commemoration of the Tulsa Ra...

Tag: movements

Black History Month: Past Movements For Civil Rights – What America’s Voting Rights Activists Can Learn