August, 06 2020, 12:00am EDT
Voting Rights Act Turns 55 and Must be Restored in Honor of John Lewis
Statement of Karen Hobert Flynn, President of Common Cause.
WASHINGTON
The right to vote is the very foundation of our democracy. Born of the horrible injustices and rampant voter suppression of the Jim Crow South, the Voting Rights Act, which turns 55 today, fully protected the right to vote for nearly five decades. That changed when the horribly misguided ruling by the United States Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder gutted the Voting Rights Act. In the wake of that decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, voter suppression has flourished and Americans have been systematically stripped of their ability to cast a ballot in numbers not seen since the Jim Crow era.
It is time to stop that troubling and undemocratic trend and pass a new Voting Rights Act to protect the right of every American to cast a ballot and make their voice heard on Election Day. The House passed the bipartisan Voting Rights Advancement Act (HR 4) in December and it is time for the Senate to follow suit and pass this legislation to protect the franchise. The bill was renamed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, shortly after the death of the civil rights legend who spent his entire life fighting injustice. It would be a fitting legacy to Rep. Lewis to enact this legislation in his name.
Senators from both sides of the aisle issued statements singing the praises of John Lewis and his lifetime of tireless work to protect the right of every American to cast a ballot. Even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was effusive in his praise for Rep. Lewis though McConnell has refused to even allow a vote on H.R. 4. It is time for Senator McConnell and his caucus to allow this bipartisan legislation to move forward. If there was any sincerity in their statements on the death of John Lewis, if their praise was anything more than lip service, they must bring the bill to a vote. They know full well that today Americans are once again being denied the right to vote in huge numbers, in many cases because of the color of their skin. It is time to put a stop to this injustice and once again strengthen the Voting Right Act to protect the franchise as Congress did repeatedly and by overwhelming majorities from 1965 to 2006.
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.
(202) 833-1200LATEST NEWS
New Reporting Details 'Large Scale' Use of Human Shields by Israel in Gaza
"The earliest testimony we have on it is from a soldier who was aware of it just a few weeks after the ground invasion began," one human rights expert said. "The latest testimony we have on this is from the summer."
Nov 04, 2024
The Israel Defense Forces routinely use detained Palestinians as human shields in Gaza, according to testimony from four Palestinians and one IDF soldier shared withThe Washington Post.
Their stories, published on Sunday, build on other accounts from Haaretz, Al Jazeera, the international press, and Defense for Children International to reveal a pattern of Israeli soldiers forcing Palestinians—including children—to enter buildings or tunnels ahead of them to check for militants or explosives, in clear violation of international law.
"This wasn't something that happened just here and there but rather on a large scale throughout a number of different units, at different times, throughout the war and in different places," Joel Carmel, advocacy director of Breaking the Silence, told The Washington Post.
"My hospital was turning into rubble, and they were asking me to demolish it with my own hands."
The incidents recounted to the Post occurred between January and August. One man, 20-year-old Mohammed Saad, said he was detained by the IDF in June and interrogated for several days. Then, a new pattern began. Every day, he and two other Palestinian men were blindfolded and taken to a different location. They were made to wear IDF uniforms, given cameras, and told to enter buildings ahead of the Israeli soldiers to film and check for explosives. On the second day, an explosion went off after Saad had made his forced investigation.
"They tied my hands and threw me on the sand," he recalled. "They took turns beating me. I still don't know where the explosion came from."
Another time, the captain of the unit he was detained by showed him an image of his family home destroyed by bombing.
"If you do not cooperate with us, we will kill all your family members like this," the captain said.
On the 15th day of Saab's ordeal, he was given civilian clothes and told to walk. As he did so, he felt a pain and realized he had been shot in the back.
The other three Palestinians interviewed by the Post were detained during the IDF's raid on al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City in March. One was a surgeon at the hospital, while the other two were taken from their homes nearby. They were made to enter the hospital building ahead of IDF troops, remove any barriers, and take pictures of each room they entered.
"I was telling them that my hands are precious for my work; I am the only vascular surgeon here," the surgeon, Omar al-Jadba recalled to the Post. "My hospital was turning into rubble, and they were asking me to demolish it with my own hands."
The IDF soldier, who spoke anonymously, said that two Palestinian detainees were placed with his unit to make sure that buildings were safe to enter. One of them was only a teenager. His commander said the two men were terrorists, but then later said they could be released after the mission was over.
"At this point we understood that if we could release them, then they were not terrorists," the soldier, a reservist, told the Post. "The officer just lied to us."
"Every one of their accusations is a confession."
Another group of soldiers questioned the use of human shields, telling a higher-level commander that it was against international law.
"He told us that international law is not important and the only thing that simple soldiers need to think about is the ethical code of the IDF," the soldier told the Post.
However, the IDF said in a statement that its orders prohibit the use of human shields.
Breaking the Silence, a group that records testimonies from Israeli soldiers in the occupied Palestinian territories, said the reservist's account was in line with others they had received.
"The earliest testimony we have on it is from a soldier who was aware of it just a few weeks after the ground invasion began," Carmel said. "The latest testimony we have on this is from the summer."
The
Post reporting came the same day as a major Associated Press investigation into Israeli raids on three hospitals in northern Gaza at the end of 2023. Israel has often justified its hospital raids with the claim that Hamas operates from the inside, turning all the patients and doctors into human shields. However, the AP concluded that
"Israel has presented little or even no evidence of a significant Hamas presence at the three" hospitals it considered: the al-Awda, Indonesian, and Kamal Adwan hospitals.
"What do [former U.S. President Donald] Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu have in common?" asked journalist Mehdi Hasan in response to the Post's reporting. "Many things but especially... projection. Every one of their accusations is a confession."
Other commenters responded to the clear violations of international law and questioned why the U.S. continues to provide weapons and funding to the IDF while it engages in war crimes.
The Austin for Palestine coalition shared a quote from the article, noting that what it described was "paid for by our tax dollars."
Keep ReadingShow Less
As Millions Starve in Gaza, Israel Terminates Agreement With UNRWA
"Restricting humanitarian access and at the same time dismantling UNRWA will add an additional layer of suffering to already unspeakable suffering," said the U.N. agency's commissioner-general.
Nov 04, 2024
Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Sunday formally notified the United Nations that it has terminated a decades-old legal agreement governing the country's relations with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, a move that aid workers and advocacy groups say will spell further disaster for Gaza's besieged and famine-stricken population as winter approaches.
The director-general of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry announced the decision to scrap the 1967 agreement in a letter to the president of the U.N. General Assembly, a message sent roughly a week after Israeli lawmakers approved legislation banning the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating or providing services "in the sovereign territory of the state of Israel."
The new letter states that the legislation "will enter into effect following a three-month period."
The Washington Postreported Monday that Juliette Touma, UNRWA's communications director, said that "the agency expected to continue its work coordinating the distribution of aid in Gaza and the West Bank at the operational level."
But aid groups have warned that Israel's UNRWA ban could inflict fatal damage to humanitarian operations in Gaza and the West Bank, given Israeli control over access to the illegally occupied territories. The legislation Israeli lawmakers passed last week bars the government from issuing work permits to foreign UNRWA staff and prevents the military from coordinating with the aid agency.
"The human cost of this ban is immeasurable," Mara Kronenfeld, executive director of UNRWA USA, said in a statement last week. "This Israeli Knesset vote banning UNRWA is not merely an attack on the U.N. agency; it's an attack on the fundamental rights and dignity due to all human beings. The consequences of this ban could result in the loss of tens of thousands, if not more, precious Palestinian lives. Where is the humanity?"
"You can hear children crying, people screaming, people running for their lives, and it has been nonstop for 24 hours. There's nowhere to go. People are trapped."
The U.S., Israel's main ally and arms supplier, urged the Israeli government last week not to implement the newly passed legislation, even though the U.S. has yet to restore its own funding to UNRWA. The Biden administration suspended U.S. funding for UNRWA in January after Israel accused a small number of agency employees of taking part in the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
The U.N. fired nine UNRWA workers after an investigation determined that they "may have been involved" in the attack. UNRWA has roughly 13,000 staffers in the Gaza Strip, and the agency is the most important aid group operating in the enclave.
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, argued that by terminating its agreement with UNRWA, "Israel is also further breaking U.S. law prohibiting the restriction of aid delivery."
"It's a definitive rejection of an explicit demand in the Biden administration's October 13 letter and by law must result in halting U.S. arms and military aid to Israel," Williams added.
The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry's announcement came as Israel's military continued its bombing campaign and ground attacks across Gaza. Reutersreported that at least a dozen Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Monday, including seven people in an attack on houses in northern Gaza.
"It is absolutely terrifying," Louise Wateridge, an UNRWA spokesperson, told Al Jazeera on Saturday, referring to conditions on the ground in Gaza. "You can hear children crying, people screaming, people running for their lives, and it has been nonstop for 24 hours. There's nowhere to go. People are trapped."
“It is absolutely terrifying.
You can hear children crying, people screaming, people running for their lives, and it has been nonstop for 24 hours. People are trapped." @UNWateridge tells @AJEnglish that people in #Gaza are facing relentless and continuous bombardments with… pic.twitter.com/sUo0YKbhOt
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 2, 2024
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA's commissioner-general, said Monday that Israeli authorities allowed an average of just 30 aid trucks to enter Gaza per day last month.
Prior to October 7, 2023, around 500 aid trucks were entering the enclave daily.
"This cannot meet the needs of over 2 million people, many of whom are starving, sick, and in desperate conditions," Lazzarini said Monday. "Restricting humanitarian access and at the same time dismantling UNRWA will add an additional layer of suffering to already unspeakable suffering."
"Only political will," he added, "can put an end to a politically made situation."
Keep ReadingShow Less
"Not a 'Joke.' It's Fascism": Trump Says He Wouldn't Mind Journalists Getting Shot
The Republican nominee also said during the same rally in Pennsylvania that he "shouldn't have left" the White House after losing the 2020 election.
Nov 04, 2024
During a rally on the final Sunday before the presidential election, Republican nominee Donald Trump told an audience gathered in the battleground state of Pennsylvania that he wouldn't mind if a gunman shot through the group of reporters covering the event.
After discussing the protective glass surrounding him, the former president said a would-be assassin "would have to shoot through the fake news" to get to him.
"I don't mind that so much," Trump said, drawing laughter and applause from his supporters. "I don't mind."
Watch:
Trump says he doesn't mind if someone shoots the press.
He repeatedly encourages violence against anyone who challenges his narrative.
That's what a dictator does — and Trump's Supreme Court gave him immunity to do whatever he wants if re-elected.
Votepic.twitter.com/W0dUWro2g9
— Melanie D'Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) November 3, 2024
Journalist Jeff Sharlet wrote in response that during his time covering "the fascism beat," he's met "men who've been itching for that encouragement, who openly fantasize about beating or killing reporters."
"It's not a joke," Sharlet wrote. "It's fascism."
Trump has long reveled in attacking members of the press, vilifying them as "the enemy of the people" and directing the ire of his supporters in their direction. Kash Patel, a Trump confidant who's expected to get a senior national security post if the former president wins Tuesday's election, suggested earlier this year that a second Trump administration would go after "the people in the media" with criminal or civil charges, underscoring the threat the Republican nominee poses to press freedom.
Facing backlash over Trump's latest attack on the press, his campaign issued an absurd statement claiming the former president was "actually looking out for [reporters'] welfare" by "stating that the media was in danger."
The Atlantic's Helen Lewis noted Sunday that "journalists are only some of the many 'enemies from within' whom Trump has name-checked at his rallies and on his favored social network, Truth Social."
Lewis continued:
He has suggested that Mark Zuckerberg should face "life in prison" if Facebook's moderation policies penalize right-wingers. He has suggested using the National Guard or the military against "radical-left lunatics" who disrupt the election. He believes people who criticize the Supreme Court "should be put in jail." A recent post on Truth Social stated that if he wins on Tuesday, Trump would hunt down "lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials" who had engaged in what he called "rampant Cheating and Skullduggery." Just last week, he fantasized in public about his Republican critic Liz Cheney facing gunfire, and he previously promoted a post calling for her to face a "televised military tribunal" for treason. In all, NPRfound more than 100 examples of Trump threatening to prosecute or persecute his opponents. One of his recent targets was this magazine.
Trump also said during Sunday's rally in Pennsylvania—where he and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris are in a dead heat—that he "shouldn't have left" the White House after losing the 2020 election.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular