DIY Archives in Brooklyn Preserves Activist History; Rolling Stone Cover `Glamorizes' Tzarneav; Marc Anthony Not American Enough for All-Star Fans; Diversity Disappears from Newsrooms.
Ginsburg attacks the ahistorical character of the majority decision. Quoting Shakespeare, she notes that the majority "ignores that `what's past is prologue'". What a profound observation, `the past is prologue'. It neatly, and with a literary flourish, sums up the deep defect with the Court's decision, its deliberate ignoring of both the contemporary ramifications of historical racism in this country as well as its current vitality.
What kind of South do we want? The Voting Rights Act was a key engine of Southern progress, leveling the political playing field but also improving the South's image and economic success. If conservatives push too hard, it may help tilt the electorate in ways that helps score some quick political victories. In the short term, these attacks could be a spark to mobilize African-American, Asian-American, Latino, young and urban voters to head to the polls in 2014.
Robin D. G. Kelley's "Open Letter," "in the style of Dr. King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, directed at the best known African-American lobbyist organization for Israeli policies - the Vanguard Leadership Group," prompted by the recent Portside post - Alice Walker's Open Letter to Alicia Keys, and the resulting responses from Portside readers.
"It no longer surprises me when extremist state legislators try to restrict our voting rights. I don't like it and we fight against it, but I'm no longer surprised by it."
"What surprises and outrages me is that yesterday a Supreme Court Justice said that the protection of the right to vote is a 'perpetuation of racial entitlement.'"
Benjamin Jealous, President and CEO, NAACP
The Supreme Court will decide whether to strike a key part of the Voting Rights Act, which conservatives say is outdated and unfair to the South. As many as 5 million votes may have been lost in 2012 had the U.S. Department of Justice not been able to use Section 5 to block voter suppression initiatives in Texas, South Carolina and Florida.
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