For much of our history, the U.S. had a Confederate Army, separate water fountains, separate schools, separate lunch counters, and hundreds were lynched by a government that used billy clubs and batons to beat down those who wanted change.
These things are “a reminder that a better future is always within reach as long as you are willing to fight for it.” Holder calls such fighters “dreamers.” One of these was Congressman John Lewis, who fought in the South for equality and years later introduced President Obama to Congress.
On March 7,1965, 600 dreamers led by John Lewis, started walking from Selma to Montgomery. They were stopped by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Pettus was a former Alabama Senator, Confederate general, and Ku Klux Klan grand wizard. The dreamers were met with hostility and hatred on that bridge, but they awoke the conscience of the nation.
In a joint address to Congress, President Johnson “was swayed by the carnage and sacrifice of the foot soldiers.” He said, “At times, history and fate meet. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama."
Within days, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, expanding the definition of “We the People” to include African Americans.
Now, Holder has another message. “For the first time since 1965, America is making it harder, not easier to vote.” From the time Barack Obama, the first African American became President, “states began restricting voting rights.” For example, they forced people to have photo IDs in order to “combat so-called voter fraud, and closed offices in low-income neighborhoods” to make it difficult for the poor to actually get an ID.
After the 2010 midterm elections, the GOP “boxed [many] Black Americans out of political power through gerrymandering, and introduced almost 200 bills aimed at reducing access to the ballot across forty-one states.”
In 2013, the Supreme Court “gutted the Voting Rights Act” making it easy to suppress voters. Over the past decade, 25 states have instituted anti-voting laws that intentionally had an enormous impact on communities of color.
Critical of those who want to make it difficult for Democrats to vote, Holder suggests some positive ways to ensure voting takes place. He believes “Democracy is the best way to implement policies that are consistent with the desires of the people.”
“Democracy is a critical mechanism for holding politicians accountable” and “no famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy [because] elected officials have to win elections and face public criticism.”
In addition, “Democracy protects every 'right' we have, such as free speech, free assembly, and the right to free religion. They all depend on the right to vote."
Holder believes we have an obligation to build on our democracy, not tear it down.