Voting Rights Act 55Th Anniversary August 6, 2020
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Voting Rights Act 55th Anniversary August 6, 2020 WHEREAS, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors recognizes the year of 2020, as the 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and WHEREAS, during the summer of 1964, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) launched Freedom Summer whose cornerstone was voter registration. Approximately 17,000 Black residents of Mississippi attempted to register to vote, however, only 1,600 of the completed applications were accepted by the local registrar, highlighting the need for federal voting rights legislation, creating momentum for the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and WHEREAS, in early 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., along with other civil rights activists including Ralph Abernathy and Fred Shuttlesworth, launched the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) campaign based in Selma, Alabama to pressure Congress to pass a voting rights legislation. Soon thereafter on Sunday, March 7, 1965, hundreds of people including Congressman John Lewis, were attacked by Alabama State Troopers in their attempt to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in their protest of racial discrimination in voting. The day, which came to be known as “Bloody Sunday,” led Congress to enact the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that provided federal oversight in facilitating registration and voting in areas of historically low turnout throughout the country; and WHEREAS, as a result of the Selma to Alabama incident, on March 14, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke in a joint session of Congress that outlined the devious ways in which election officials denied African Americans the right to vote; and WHEREAS, on August 6, 1965, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and other civil rights leaders present at the ceremony. The Act prohibited racial discrimination and discriminatory practices from casting votes to combat the disfranchisement of African Americans at the voting polls in the Southern State, which used ruinous tactics of intimidation, violence, fraud, poll taxes, literacy tests, restrictive and arbitrary registration practices, white primaries, or a death sentence to prevent them from voting as citizens of the United States; and WHEREAS, the Voting Acts Rights Act of 1965 was made possible after 150 years and countless efforts made by American allies, constituency groups, organizations such as the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Communication Disenfranchise Committee, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Council of Churches, the NAACP, the National Urban League, the United Auto Workers, and a wide variety of activists, writers, actors, students and others worked together and fought white supremacy and intolerance for the right to vote; and WHEREAS, since its passage, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been amended to include features including protection of voter rights for non-English speaking American citizens; and WHEREAS, the 55th anniversary that we celebrate today reminds us that this coming November, we must honor our ancestors and prepare to do our duty as citizens in the most important election in this country’s history by registering to vote and encouraging our family, friends, and neighbors to vote. THEREFORE, this Board of Supervisors, County of Alameda, State of California does hereby recognize 2020 as the 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. We encourage everyone to preserve and maintain this right for generations to come so that we may always remember the bridges that we have crossed and battles we have won. RICHARD VALLE, PRESIDENT KEITH CARSON, VICE-PRESIDENT SUPERVISOR, SECOND DISTRICT SUPERVISOR, FIFTH DISTRICT SCOTT HAGGERTY SUPERVISOR, FIRST DISTRICT WILMA CHAN SUPERVISOR, THIRD DISTRICT NATE MILEY SUPERVISOR, FOURTH DISTRICT .