The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 11, 2025

Five months after peaceful voting rights marchers were viciously attacked by their own government in Selma, Alabama, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed by President Lyndon Johnson.  Anti-voter legislatures, are now challenging the VRA’s protections, even though that discrimination continues.

The VRA was intended to give teeth to the 15th Amendment, prohibiting discrimination based on “race, color or previous enslavement.”  The VRA Section 5 required states with a track record of discrimination, mostly southern and some western states, to “pre-clear” their election law with the U.S. Justice Department. 

The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 began an erosion of those protections, by prohibiting the U.S. Justice Department from enforcing those preclearance requirements. In the ensuing 12 years, power-hungry state legislatures unleashed a torrent of anti-voter bills, designed to suppress specific groups, including Black, Hispanic, Native American, and college student voters. 

A 2021 decision, Brnovich v. DNC, made it harder to argue that those bills discriminated by race. In 2024, the conservative majority made it more difficult to prove racial gerrymandering under the VRA Section 2 in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP.  The latest attack?  A 2025 Supreme Court case from Louisiana argues the VRA’s provision for majority-minority voting districts is itself discriminatory – toward White voters.   More on that in an upcoming report.

We have more on these cases at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Florida Phoenix – Tens of thousands commemorate 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma
Brennan Center for Justice – The Voting Rights Act Explained
NAACP – Voting Rights Act of 1965
Southern Poverty Law Center – 60 years after Bloody Sunday, foot soldiers address current threats to democracy
Brennan Center for Justice – (2023) Effects of Shelby County v. Holder on the Voting Rights Act
Campaign Legal Center – (2021) Supreme Court’s Decision Further Damages Voting Rights Act
League of Women Voters U.S. – (2024) Court Made Racial Gerrymandering Easier in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRightsAct #VRA #BloodySunday #Selma #VoterSuppression

The post The Voting Rights Act of 1965, Born Out of ‘Bloody Sunday,’ Fights for Its Life in the Face of an Activist U.S. Supreme Court Majority appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 10, 2025

March 7th marked 60 years since Black Americans, demanding their right to vote, were brutally beaten and gassed by their government in Selma, Alabama.  The ‘Blood Sunday’ attack outraged many Americans, resulting in passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Despite the 1870 passage of the 15th Amendment prohibiting discrimination based on “race, color or previous enslavement,” African Americans endured almost a century of often violent Jim Crow barriers to voting.

Demanding equal access, an estimated 600 activists began a march from Selma to Montgomery when they were met by 150 Alabama state troopers and sheriff deputies, blocking passage over the Edmund Pettus bridge.  Police, wielding batons and tear gas, waded into the crowd, brutally beating marchers, including future Congressman John Lewis.  At least 58 marchers were injured.

News cameras captured the attack, broadcast that night during peak Sunday night viewing.  Millions of Americans spoke out against the brutality, and by March 17th, the Voting Rights Act was introduced in Congress, enforcing the 15th Amendment.  On March 25th, Dr. Martin Luther King led an estimated 3,200 activists from around the country to complete the march.       

On August 6th, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law. In 2025, that law is under attack.  More on that tomorrow.   We thank the Smithsonian for use of Carl Benkert’s Selma march recordings.  

Find much more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
National Park Service – Bloody Sunday

National Archives –  John Lewis – March from Selma to Montgomery, “Bloody Sunday,” 1965National Archives – Voting Rights Act of 1965
Campaign Legal Center – Bloody Sunday Remembered: 60 Years Later
National Interest – Media Historian on “Bloody Sunday” and the Late Rep. John Lewis
Axios – Civil rights questions cloud “Bloody Sunday” anniversary in Selma 

Groups Taking Action:

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Selma Center for Nonviolence

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Selma #BloodySunday #VotingRights #JohnLewis

The post They Marched for Voting Rights and Were Beaten by Their Government.  On the 60th Anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’ the Struggle Continues appeared first on American Democracy Minute.