Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act:
Today we commemorate the 50th anniversary of one of the country’s most successful civil rights laws. The Voting Rights Act has played a central role in preventing the discriminatory practices that at one time prevented millions of Americans from exercising their right to vote because of their racial or ethnic background.
Political extremists are working to chip away at the protections the law provides and threaten millions of voters’ access to the ballot box. This isn’t a conversation we should still be having fifty years after the act was signed into law. I join President Obama in urging Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act to ensure that we as a country go forward, not backwards, in protecting the right of every American to cast a vote.
Contact: Charity Jackson (202) 637-5018