Another historic anniversary stirs attention on voting rights

There are many reasons that Aug. 6 marks an important date in American history. Most are aware the atomic bomb was first used by the United States when dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, 75 years ago, on that date, killing and injuring countless numbers, before days later dropping a second bomb on Nagasaki and ultimately bringing an end to the Second World War.

The same date, in 2020, is when Americans discovered that they have been banned access to most nations of the world due to the staggering number of U.S. COVID-19 infections, with no end in sight. For Americans right now, traveling is harder than ever before, they are not welcome in other countries because of the poor U.S. response to the pandemic.

Another event of monumental significance for many Americans - both Black and white - occurred on Aug. 6, 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act. The intent was to eliminate barriers at the state and local levels that were preventing African Americans from exercising their legal right to vote, as conveyed in 1869 by the 15th Amendment to the Constitution.

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865 and with the 14th Amendment in 1868, African Americans were granted the rights of citizenship. In spite of these constitutional rights, African Americans were confronted with untold obstacles to voting for almost 100 years upon the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

States throughout America found ways to prevent Blacks from voting. Poll taxes, fraud, intimidation and harassment were just some of the ways used to keep them from the polls. Blacks have been openly ridiculed, beaten and lynched when attempting to cast their vote. The Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups conducted a long reign of terror on Black voters and their supporters.

In Illinois, Jim Crow laws and "sundown" towns, communities that required African Americans to be out of town by sunset, played their part in suppressing the Black vote. Those African Americans who actually made it to a polling place were confronted with unjust and humiliating treatment requiring them to answers questions that were unanswerable - ike, "how high is up" and "how many bubbles are in a bar of soap" - as a condition of being allowed to vote. In some states, African Americans were told they had to recite the Declaration of Independence to prove they were worthy to vote. Then there was the requirement that African Americans take a literacy test, consisting of 30 questions that had to be completed within 10 minutes.

In modern history, the legacy of another tactic, the "Southern Strategy," an effort to increase political support among white voters by appealing to racism against African Americans, serves as a further means to quash the Black vote. Use of this discriminatory ploy was seen during the tenure of President Richard Nixon and can be seen today during that of President Donald Trump.

In a 2013 Supreme Court ruling invalidating a major provision of the Voting Rights Act, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that the discriminatory conditions which originally justified the measures no longer exist and therefore are no longer needed. The viewpoint that discrimination and harassment are things of the past is often held by individuals far removed from the reality of the everyday lives of people of color.

A survey of suburban Chicago high school students found overwhelming numbers who said they were not aware of such acts to deny the Black and Brown vote. Schools have long denied students by failing to teach them truths in American History. This is largely because educators and school administrators and their ancestors before them were not affected by attacks on their own voting rights.

Efforts to obstruct voting continue to this day and include tampering with the U.S. Census to eliminate scores of Black, Brown and low-income Americans from the voting numbers. Endeavors to modify U.S. Postal Service responsibilities could result in slowing down the return of mail-in voting ballots and cause disruption during the count process. A particularly egregious attempt to interfere with voting has been the permanent closure of polling places in Black and Brown communities, thereby making it more difficult for some to cast their vote. These stunts have the same intent as the hurdles that confronted African Americans attempting to exercise their legal right in days gone by.

Unfortunately, there are those who truly believe that all Americans who are eligible to vote may do so without obstruction. This is simply not the case. We must be clear, even though it has been 55 years since passage of the Voting Rights Act, there remains the need to ensure all who have the right are allowed to vote without interference.

• The Rev. Clyde H. Brooks, of Arlington Heights, is chairman of the Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations.