Every third Monday in January we gather as Americans to commemorate the values and beliefs — as well as the ultimate sacrifice — of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His tireless advocacy for civil rights, equal protection under the law, labor rights, and for the ultimate realization of our essential creed that we are “one nation, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is taught in every school in America, and is now enshrined in a memorial on the National Mall. Dr. King believed so strongly not only in these values, but also in the moral imperative to heed the “fierce urgency of now.” He knew that in the face of injustice no moral man or woman can stay silent — and he paid for it with his life. He was a “drum major for justice” He inspired us — not just with his eloquent sermons, rich in purpose; or his speeches, inspiring and provocative — but he challenged us with his dream, his daring imagination: to see an America where all of God’s children would be equal; all of God’s children would have a seat at the table. Dr. King, along with other men and women of his generation did not just see the barriers. They believed in the opportunities that could be realized if we could just move beyond racial inequality and injustice. He truly believed that we had to “take the first step in faith, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Just take the first step. I’ve written and spoken about Dr. King many times, but this year, one area of his crusade seems particularly worthy of remembrance: the fight for the ballot.
Prior to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, African-Americans and many others faced regular and malicious restrictions to the free exercise of their constitutionally protected right to vote, especially in my native South. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses: many insidious techniques were used by certain states to restrict, confuse, and write off, marginalize and disenfranchise so many eligible citizens from voting simply because of the color of their skin.
Southern governors and those in Washington comfortable with the status quo hid behind arguments about “states rights.” Yet these laws were little more than legislated racism and all knew the real goal behind their unequal effects.
In a 1957 speech titled “Give Us The Ballot,” Dr. King spoke plainly about the imperative of equal voting rights. “So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind — it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact — I can only submit to the edict of others.”
Full Article: For King, the right to vote was sacred – CNN.com.