Black People Politics : Politics From The Black Perspective

In the Spirit of Sankofa and Update!

Politics From The Black Perspective

MEETING SYNOPSIS


Voting Rights Act of 1965
Background


The Voting Rights Act (VR Act) bans racial discrimination in voting practices by the federal government as well as by state and local governments.
Passed in 1965 after a century of deliberate and violent denial of the vote to African-Americans in the South and Latinos in the Southwest – as well as many years of entrenched electoral systems that shut out citizens with limited fluency in English – the VRA is often held up as the most effective civil rights law ever enacted. It is widely regarded as enabling the enfranchisement of millions of minority voters and diversifying the electorate and legislative bodies at all levels of American government.

Congress has reauthorized the VRA five times, most recently in 2006, when both the House and the Senate approved the measure overwhelmingly in a bipartisan manner. Congress conducted over 20 hearings, heard from over 50 expert witnesses, and collected over 17,000 pages of testimony documenting the continued need for and constitutionality of the statute.

The 2006 reauthorization renewed several key protections, Election Day monitors, and Justice Department pre-approval of voting changes. The protections are currently set to expire in 2031.

Group discussion ensued on the following highlights:

- Current controversies relating to Section 5 of the VR Act

- The possibile weakening or abolishment of the VR Act

- The vulnerability minorities are opened up to with its current renewal agreement

- Section 5 covers Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia with the exception of eight counties and three cities in Virginia – Should other states be included?

- Advantages to all minorities collectively working together to ensure Congress maintains the integrity of the Act

Group discussed and agreed to table this topic and work on the following action items:

- Identify a Political Action Committee (PAC) group

- Spread awareness of the impact of the VR Act to the Destee.com community and other communities at large

- Explore collaborative opportunities to strengthen our charge and push this referendum forward

- Develop a white paper to our respective State representatives and other parties of political influence

Respectfully Submitted By:

Proverbs31Woman




.......Thank you for these well done minutes sister Proverbs31Woman...btw, we've got a little something to talk about this Saturday with President Obama getting Osama Bin Laden, see you there.

 
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In the Spirit of Sankofa and Update!



A headline for Saturday's talk:

Do Politicians Discriminate Against Constituents?

A Yale study looked at how race affects the responsive of state legislators in requests for help with registering to vote.

"Their idea was simple and elegant," Ezra Klein notes. "They posed as a voter and e-mailed thousands of state legislators asking for help registering. Actually, I guess I should say they posed as two different voters. One fake voter, 'DeShawn Jackson,' had a black name, and the other, 'Jake Mueller,' had a white name."

Requests to white legislators from the black voter received fewer replies, even when controlling for partisanship. Minority lawmakers did the opposite and responded more frequently.

Link to the study report: http://butler.research.yale.edu/papers/AJPS_Discriminate.pdf

Have a conflict Saturday. Look forward to a good talk next week.

Changes_Changes



.......Okay Family, this is a 35 page report and its extremely interesting.

 
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Politics From The Black Perspective

MEETING SYNOPSIS

Voting Rights Act of 1965
Background

The Voting Rights Act (VR Act) bans racial discrimination in voting practices by the federal government as well as by state and local governments.
Passed in 1965 after a century of deliberate and violent denial of the vote to African-Americans in the South and Latinos in the Southwest – as well as many years of entrenched electoral systems that shut out citizens with limited fluency in English – the VRA is often held up as the most effective civil rights law ever enacted. It is widely regarded as enabling the enfranchisement of millions of minority voters and diversifying the electorate and legislative bodies at all levels of American government.

Congress has reauthorized the VRA five times, most recently in 2006, when both the House and the Senate approved the measure overwhelmingly in a bipartisan manner. Congress conducted over 20 hearings, heard from over 50 expert witnesses, and collected over 17,000 pages of testimony documenting the continued need for and constitutionality of the statute.

The 2006 reauthorization renewed several key protections, Election Day monitors, and Justice Department pre-approval of voting changes. The protections are currently set to expire in 2031.

Group discussion ensued on the following highlights:

- Current controversies relating to Section 5 of the VR Act

- The possibile weakening or abolishment of the VR Act

- The vulnerability minorities are opened up to with its current renewal agreement

- Section 5 covers Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia with the exception of eight counties and three cities in Virginia – Should other states be included?

- Advantages to all minorities collectively working together to ensure Congress maintains the integrity of the Act

Group discussed and agreed to table this topic and work on the following action items:

- Identify a Political Action Committee (PAC) group

- Spread awareness of the impact of the VR Act to the Destee.com community and other communities at large

- Explore collaborative opportunities to strengthen our charge and push this referendum forward

- Develop a white paper to our respective State representatives and other parties of political influence

Respectfully Submitted By:

Proverbs31Woman

What has been the president's statement regarding this, to date?
 
Quoted by Ankhur

What has been the president's statement regarding this, to date?


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/31/AR2009033104425.html

The latest court decision allows juristictions that are covered by Section 5 of the VR Act to "opt-out" should they change any voting regulations, as otherwise, they would need federal approval (which is costly), which takes away the protection it was instituted for.

The Politics From the Black Perspective Group is exploring the current status of the VR Act, although, from research thus far, it appears that the court has made it's decision and it's being upheld.

Have you joined this group or intend to? I implore that you do as we can benefit from your input and guidance, and it appears that you have a vested interest.
 

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