THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT EXTENSION ON HOLD?

The House of Representatives is expected to renew talks concerning the landmark Voting Rights Act; this act enabled blacks and minorities the right to vote. The 25 year extension to the bill was expected to sail through Congress. However, a small group of southern representative, including FL, objected to the extension, stating that some of the southern states would be singled out and forced to pay for errors from the past they claimed they have corrected. One of the provisions calls for some of the southern states, such as TX, FL, and GA among others, to have to seek clearance with the Justice Department before implementing and changes on voting rules. The benevolent southerners feel that they are not receiving credit for the strides they have made over the years towards civil rights. They further contend that it would be Justices Department burden to prove why these southern states have to go through this extra scrutiny. Click here for one of the stories.

Ok, for one, thanks to a southern state like the one I live in, Florida, we single handedly gave George Bush the presidency in what will probably go down in history as one of the biggest most embarrassing voting scandals. We still don’t know where a bunch of those ballots went. So you expect me blindly to trust state voting officials to do the right thing? I think not just the southern states should be held to this scrutiny, but all the states. Let’s not pretend we haven’t heard of last minute voting pole location changes in largely black districts to make things not so easy for us. Many voters even miss out on voting because of messes like this, sending me from one place to another until there’s no time left. Why is it such an inconvenience to have to report every voting rule change to higher authorities? Do we not feel we have to answer to somebody, at least people we represent, which brings up the real reason this is such a problem for some Republicans. The reason they have a problem with this is because they would seem extremely obvious in their gerrymandering tactics, which is a clever way to minimize the minority influence in politics.

Another provision they object to is one that requires states to print out ballots in other languages if that state or region is heavily populated by non-English speaking citizens. They contend that since immigrants are supposed to be proficient in English, there should be no reason for a ballot printed out in Spanish for example. For another article click here .

Let me just say this, I guess proficiency in the English language would be a requirement to become a citizen. The problem with that word would be how you define proficient. There are many people in this country that may very well have the ability to carry a conversation in English with you, but does that mean they feel comfortable reading in English? Last time I heard, you don’t have to be literate to cast a vote, oh wow, thanks to the Voting Rights Act, so why should you be subjected to cast your vote, and maybe not be sure how you’re voting because the ballot is not printed in a language you’re most comfortable with. Let’s not forget about some of our older citizens that have been here most of their lives, yet haven’t been able to dominate the language. You cannot say that these people are dumb or un-American. There’s a big difference between learning a couple of words, understanding a language, and completely mastering a language. Scientific research shows that language development occurs in the frontal lobe of the brain; this part of the brain takes some ten to twelve years fully develop from the time an infant is born. Multi-language mastery is most successful in children, up to the ages of 10 or 11-years-old without any visible accent in any of the languages learned. Once the frontal lobe is fully developed, language mastery becomes a bit more difficult, not impossible, but more difficult. The older you are, the harder it will be to learn a second language; this explains why some people that have been here since early adulthood still have problems dominating the language. Whenever you see a person who can dominate more than one language without any visible flaws in any of them, that person positively learned the languages at a very early age, and used all languages on a frequent basis. So it’s not so much that foreigners are stupid or slow, but it’s more of a biological limitation that all humans have. I would argue to say that they’re pretty smart for coming to just understand the language. Having lived in Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the U.S., I know for a fact that nobody speaks English regularly in the Island (other than hospitality employees), yet all Puerto Ricans are citizens, and millions of them live in the states, what do we do them? Call them non-citizens? My mother would’ve fit this particular scenario very well (rip).

The bickering over these 2 provisions is so freaking childish, it should be an insult to all Americans alike. What is it that we’re trying to do here? Turn the clock back in time? As far as I’m concerned, this Act should be made permanent, not extend it 10 years, or 25 years, or whatever, make it a permanent fixture. Even though many of us are living under a presidency we did not vote for, it is our right, and responsibility to continue to vote in the future, and we should make sure that our rights are not temporary. The loss of power is scaring the crap out of elite, but let’s not let anything intimidate us. Make it permanent; things may change for the better, maybe not for our generation, but for our children.