Centuries of Black voting rights gains at risk as GOP escalates suppression push

Bolstered by a justice system that has unabashedly taken off its blindfold, national and state Republican leaders are moving full-speed ahead to disenfranchise Black Americans, and their meaningful participation in the political process.

Denying and diluting the power of the Black vote in Missouri and in many states has taken on new life.

The recent ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court has all but guaranteed its destructive longevity.

States are free to carve up Congressional districts anyway they choose to render the Black vote impotent if not totally null and void.

Several states see the Court’s ruling as a new lease on life to suppress the Black vote and reduce Black representation in legislatures. Look at what is happening in Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina since the court rendered its decision. No doubt other states will follow.

Before the recent ruling, several Republican-led states had followed the Trump administration’s request to redraw congressional districts in an attempt to reduce or eliminate districts with high Black populations that traditionally elect Democrats.

The goal is to increase the odds of electing Republicans to protect or expand the congressional majority in the upcoming midterm elections.

Look at the gerrymandered congressional map in Missouri that makes the 5th Congressional District, which once represented the core of Kansas City. The newly drawn district dilutes the voting power of Black citizens and thereby undermines their voice, negating their power to affect policies that impact their quality of life.

Essentially, a gerrymandered district is designed to achieve two diametrically opposed goals: Increase the political power of one group as it negates the political power of another.

The pernicious, persistent fight to deny Black citizens the opportunity for equal participation in the political process in this country has been exacting, affecting every aspect of the quality of life — economically, environmentally, generationally, physically and emotionally.

There seems to be no rest for the weary — for generations of Black Americans who fought and gave their lives to secure the right to vote for themselves and their progeny.

Those gains, decades and centuries in the making, are at risk of being undone.

The right for Blacks to exercise their vote in the political process is neither safe nor secure — still.

Clearly, the continual effort over recent years to make it more difficult, if not impossible, to vote makes historic gains precarious at best.

The renewed effort to be hell-bent on mitigating, marginalizing and outright denying a bona fide American citizen their right to vote should deeply concern us all.

How can exercising the basic right to vote still be a major issue for citizens legally eligible to vote in supposedly the greatest democracy on earth, the United States of America?

Granted, our history of extending this basic right to all Americans has been a spotty one.

One of the main reasons is because originally the United States Constitution did not define who was eligible to vote, leaving that decision to each state.

Exercising the basic right to vote has been problematic for one group or another ever since.

One consequence has been getting a government that was not of the people, for the people and by the people as we like to think and brag about. Instead, the result is a government of, by and for a few.

Is that where we are today?

As we are about to celebrate our 250th birthday, are we trying to reclaim an America of centuries past?

Is it the goal to have America run by the rich and powerful few?

A brief visit down history lane will prove instructive.

At first, exercising the basic right to vote was extended only to white men who were property owners. Men and women who were not property owners could not vote in most states. Early in our history, women could vote in a few northern states and jurisdictions if they owned property. Freed slaves and other nonwhite people could vote in a few jurisdictions if they met the property requirements.

But even the property requirement was eliminated for white men and they were eligible to vote in all states prior to the Civil War. Of course, that eligibility has continued.

Subsequent amendments to the Constitution prohibit any state from denying an American citizen the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” the 15th Amendment that passed in 1870; or on “account of sex,” the 19th Amendment, passed in 1920.

And, the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Many states have and continue to institute policies to make it hard for certain citizens to vote, most notably Black Americans, Native Americans and other minorities. The measures being adopted in recent years, and even today, also target the elderly with unreasonable identification requirements and burdensome restrictions about how a vote can be cast.

If the SAVE America Act passes the U.S. Congress, many more Americans will find it extremely difficult if not impossible to vote. Most notably, nearly 70 million women may be at risk of not being able to vote with the same IDs used in previous elections.

What is the end game?

With all the challenges we face — in our common humanity, as Americans — the priority is to stifle and distort voter participation in determining policy priorities and the future of our country?

Really?

In 2026, as we prepare to celebrate 250 years of our great, but imperfect nation. What a sad state of affairs we find ourselves in — the reputed greatest democracy on earth.