Urban Legend: Will Blacks' Right to Vote Expire at Year's End?
By Eric L. Hinton
November 20, 2007
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There are certain rumors that refuse to die and make the rounds across the Internet--which Al Gore didn't create--every year. From the U.S. government issuing Social Security numbers based on race (false) to blacks being eligible for a $5,000 tax credit based on slave reparations (good luck with that), there are some rumors that resurface like clockwork.
One such rumor, according to various e-mails circulating on the Internet, is the idea that blacks' right to vote will expire when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 expires at year's end.
This is a lie. It is false. A sham. A fabrication. An untruth.
The Voting Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, but blacks had the ability to vote long before this, dating back to the 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, which guaranteed the rights of all citizens to vote. In extending the Voting Rights Act in 1970, Congress included a provision lowering the voting age to 18. The 1965 act was designed to combat Jim Crow laws in the South that placed restrictions such as "poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses," which effectively prevented blacks from voting, according to Snopes.com. And in many Reconstruction-era states throughout the South, the Ku Klux Klan used intimidation and terror to keep blacks away from the voting booths.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 authorized the federal government to send federal registrars to counties where "local registrars refused to accept the registration of black voters, and observers to ensure blacks were allowed to vote and that their votes were counted," according to Snopes.
And yes, the act was originally set to expire this year, which led to a flurry of Internet e-mails rallying a charge to make sure it was renewed. But what some fail to realize is that the Voting Rights Act was already renewed last year by President Bush in a morning ceremony on the White House lawn that was attended by the families of slain civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the late Rosa Parks.
Regardless of the false rumor, it's clear that the Voting Rights Act has served a critical purpose, as voter-registration rates for blacks have increased dramatically following the 1965 legislation, according the U.S. Department of Justice web site. In 1965, Southern states including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia had voter-registration-rate gaps between blacks and white ranging from 22.8 percent (Virginia) to 63.3 percent (Mississippi). In 1998, those gaps shrunk to negative-2 percent (Louisiana) and 7.4 percent (North Carolina).
So while the Voting Rights Act of 1965 played a pivotal role in the history of black Americans, it was because it enforced their rights already on the books, but it was NEVER responsible for providing blacks with the ability to vote. So perhaps the rumor will fade away--until next year.
(See also: Hoax Alert! Undocumented Immigrants Do NOT Get Social-Security Benefits)
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