Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner spoke Friday afternoon about the importance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (Adam Studzinski/WJBC)
By Adam Studzinski
BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington's mayor took time Friday afternoon to recognize the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Why? Because Mayor Tari Renner called this act one of, if not the most radical piece of legislation on U.S. history.
"It suspended literacy tests or understanding clauses, that's the main means by which African-Americans were denied the right to vote for the previous 100 years in the south," said Renner. "The second thing it did is established pre-clearance; that is you couldn't change your voter laws if you were a community with a racial discriminatory history unless you got approval from the Justice Department in Washington (D.C.)."
Renner added just three years after the act's passage the majority of non-whites voted in a presidential election for the first time ever. The act also changed the political field in America.
"You don't enfranchise a quarter, or 25 percent, of an entire population – 10 plus million human beings – without having dramatic consequences," Renner said.
Renner said it's critical as time goes on for people to understand how fragile our rights have been and the need to remain vigilant to protect "fundamental rights for all Americans."
Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].
