Speech #1090147829

Of all the civil rights legislation that the Nation has enacted over the past four decades. the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is arguably the most important. Yes. every major piece of civil rights legislation has helped to eliminate injustices such as discrimination in education. employment and housing. but it is the Voting Rights Act that empowers Americans to take action against injustices by electing those who pledge to eliminate it and removing those who perpetuate it. African Americans in the South were prevented from voting by a battery of tactics. poll taxes. literacy tests that were for blacks only. and the crudest forms of intimidation. From the Southwest to some urban areas in the Northeast and Midwest. Latinos were discouraged from voting in more subtle but just as effective techniques that exploited the vulnerabilities of lowincome newcomers for whom English was a second language.