![]() The certification comes after pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol earlier Wednesday. "The announcement of the state of the vote by the President of the Senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and Vice President of the United States, each for the term beginning on the 20th day of January 2021 and shall be entered together with the list of the votes on the journals of the Senate and the House of Representatives," Pence said following the count of all of the state's Electoral College votes. Use us to bring healing and unity to our hurting and divided nation and world. Thank you for what you have blessed our lawmakers to accomplish in spite of threats to liberty.īless and keep us. Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to do your will and guide our feet on the path of peace. And God bless America. We pray in your sovereign name, amen." You have strengthened our resolve to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies domestic as well as foreign. Lord, you have helped us remember that we need to see in each other a common humanity that reflects your image. ![]() These tragedies have reminded us that words matter and that the power of life and death is in the tongue. We have been warned that eternal vigilance continues to be freedom's price. In 1970, President Richard Nixon extended the provisions of the Voting Rights Act and lowered the eligible voting age for all voters to 18."Lord of our lives and sovereign of our beloved nation, we deplore the desecration of the United States Capitol building, the shedding of innocent blood, the loss of life, and the quagmire of dysfunction that threaten our democracy. In Mississippi alone, voter turnout among Black voters increased from 6 percent in 1964 to 59 percent in 1969. While state and local enforcement of the act was initially weak, mainly in the South, the Voting Rights Act gave African American voters the legal means to challenge voting restrictions and vastly improved voter turnout. On August 6, 1965, Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which made it illegal to impose restrictions on federal, state and local elections that were designed to deny the vote to Black Americans. Just after the march was successfully completed on March 25, four Klansman shot and killed Detroit homemaker Viola Liuzzo as she drove marchers back to Selma. The march to Montgomery finally began March 21 with over 3,000 participants under the glare of worldwide news publicity. It took Federal intervention with the “federalizing” of the Alabama national guard and the addition of over 2,000 other guards to allow the march to begin. ![]() Television news coverage of the event galvanized voting rights supporters in Congress.Ī second attempt to march to Montgomery was also blocked by police. The police violence that erupted resulted in the death of a King supporter, a white Unitarian Minister from Boston named James J. Civil rights leader John Lewis and over 500 peaceful marchers were attacked while planning a march from Selma to Montgomery to register African Americans to vote. The speech was delivered eight days after violence erupted in Selma, Alabama. “Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. “Their cause must be our cause too,”Johnson said. Discrimination had taken the form of literacy, knowledge or character tests administered solely to African Americans to keep them from registering to vote. But states had defied the Constitution and erected barriers. Using the phrase “we shall overcome,” borrowed from African American leaders struggling for equal rights, Johnson declares that “every American citizen must have an equal right to vote.” Johnson reminds the nation that the Fifteenth Amendment, which was passed after the Civil War, gave all citizens the right to vote regardless of race or color. Johnson addresses a joint session of Congress to urge the passage of legislation guaranteeing voting rights for all.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |