Today marks 59 years since brave civil rights foot soldiers crossed
the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

Friend, 

Today marks 59 years since brave civil rights foot soldiers crossed
the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, as they marched for their
fundamental right to vote. They were met with state troopers wielding
billy clubs and beaten mercilessly as the world watched.

They were not deterred. Their efforts led to the passage of the Voting
Rights Act of 1965, which would help protect the right to vote for
communities of color for decades. Their bravery -  and
subsequent victory - exemplify what the late Congressman John
Lewis, a leader of the march as a young man, reminded us:
"Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation
must do its part."

These words still ring true today, a decade into a new era of voting
laws designed to suppress the vote. The 2013 U.S. Supreme Court
decision in Shelby v. Holder opened the floodgates for new anti-voting
laws, especially those in the Deep South
[link removed]

, by gutting a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. As a result,
today Black voters have fewer voting rights protections

[link removed]

than in 1965 after passage of the Voting Rights Act.

And, as new data demonstrates

[link removed]

, the turnout gap between voters of color and white voters has grown
in the decade since the Shelby decision, especially in states that
needed federal approval for voting law changes under the act.

Read more here

[link removed]

Sincerely,

Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center

P.S. Read more

[link removed]

about SPLC staff and supporters' experience at the
commemorative Edmund Pettus Bridge crossing during this year's
Jubilee celebration.

 


Donate

[link removed]



--
Unsubscribe [link removed] | Privacy Policy [link removed] | Contact Us [link removed]

Southern Poverty Law Center
400 Washington Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36104
334.956.8200 // splcenter.org
[link removed]
Copyright 2023