January 16th marks Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. That day is a national holiday in which America celebrates the achievements and vision of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King, a Baptist minister, was a tireless and formidable opponent of racial segregation and economic inequality. Dr. King’s birthday was approved as a federal holiday in 1983, and in all 50 states as a state government holiday by 2000.[1]
From the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, to his “I Have a Dream speech in 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, to the Selma to Montgomery, Alabama march in 1965, Dr. King spread his message through nonviolent means, even as he was the victim of violence himself.[2]
In 1964, Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Prize “for his non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American population.”[3] He was instrumental to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, bringing the end of the Jim Crow era, and then, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, redressing the legacy of discrimination against Black Americans’ access to the ballot.[4]
Recall his words, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Dr. King’s fight for equal rights and economic equality for Black Americans continues to impact all Americans.
Why is this important?
Why do we need to know this?
It is impossible to describe the legacy of Dr. King in these few words. But, the question must be asked, are we as a country living up to the dreams and hopes of Dr. King?
The passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act did not mean that inequality and all remnants of the past were suddenly gone. A recent article from Forbes Magazine notes that since the assassination of Dr. King in 1968, “Black Americans continued to accumulate wealth at much smaller rates than their white counterparts…” [5]
In 2013, in Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013), the U.S. Supreme Court gutted a provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Shelby County is in Alabama. A part of the Voting Rights Act required that certain jurisdictions were required to get approval or preclearance from the Justice Department or federal court before enacting changes in voting laws. [6] Approval or preclearance was a positive requirement of the Voting Rights Act and served as a guardrail of democracy. But, the Shelby County decision did away with that requirement. The effects of the Shelby County decision were immediate. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “… The decision in Shelby County opened the floodgates to laws restricting voting throughout the United States”. [7]
So, is there any correlation between voter suppression and the January 6th riots at the US Capitol? On January 6th, a mob descended on the Capitol seeking to block the certification of electoral votes from the 2020 general election. The mob claimed that the election was stolen. The effect of the riot was to disenfranchise voters. In 2021, as the Brennan Center for Justice noted, legislatures across the US considered bills to grant themselves the legal authority to overturn or nullify elections and some are even trying to limit judicial intervention in the voting process. [8] What happened on January 6th is the same thing that happened in the Shelby case. In both cases, people sought to remove the guardrails of democracy.
Will Congress act this time? And, if so, when?
There is much more work to be done!
Be Informed
Be Engaged
Be Involved
1 https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/how-martin-luther-king-jr-s-birthday-became-a-holiday-3
2 https://www.britannica.com/event/Selma-March
3 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/facts/
4 https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/immediate-impact.html
6 https://www.justice.gov/crt/shelby-county-decision
7 https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/effects-shelby-county-v-holder
8 https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/january-6-insurrection-isnt-over