Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

letter to the editor:

Justices turned away from history

Regarding the Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act:

I am ashamed of my country. I am ashamed that four white men and — hold your breath — one black man undid one of the greatest acts of Congress in our history: the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These five men fail to understand history and the blood of those who died for justice and fairness in a society that even today is increasingly deaf to the voices of the poor, the unemployed and the disenfranchised.

Perhaps these five men and those who support their actions never heard of Emmett Till or Medgar Evers. Perhaps they did not see the long lines of black men and women waiting to vote last November as restrictive laws made voting harder for those with the least power. Or could it be that declaring victory over the past is a way to erase history and blind oneself from the truth?

In a society less upwardly mobile than in 1965 when the Voting Rights Act became law, it is shocking that Supreme Court justices like Antonin Scalia, John Roberts and Samuel Alito continue their assault on the open society necessary for democracy. It will take a new civil rights movement to fashion fairness and access and undo the damage these men have brought us.

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