Barbara Lee Calls for Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) joined with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) in calling for the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act and opposing amendments designed to gut the historic civil rights legislation. Her statement from the House floor follows:
“Let me thank Mr. Conyers for your leadership and for yielding. And also to Chairman Sensenbrenner and to Congressman Mel Watt, our Chair of the Black Caucus, for your leadership in ensuring that the re-authorization of the voting rights act did not become a Democratic or Republican issue but an American issue.
"The right to vote is the heart and soul of our democracy, and I vividly remember the days of Jim Crow and segregation, the poll tax, the humiliation and degradation of African-Americans not so long ago.
“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed just one year after I graduated from high school. While much progress has been made, voter suppression and voter intimidation continues. There is no way that I would be standing here on this floor as a Member of Congress had it not been for the bloodshed and sacrifices and deaths of so many, including our own great warrior, Congressman John Lewis, in fighting for the right of all Americans to vote.
“So in the spirit and memory of Fannie Lou Hamer and Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, let's pass this bipartisan legislation without any amendments so that America can be true to its ideal of liberty and justice for all. Today, let us let the world know that we do practice what we preach and that we stand for democracy here at home. I want to thank Congressmen Conyers, Watt, and Sensenbrenner again for making this an American issue.”
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