Political disenfranchisment: “One of the next civil rights issues”

I believe the South is very important to the country, as an indicator of where we’re going, or where we need to be going, and at the same time, a reminder of where we’ve been.

Within my life-time my parents experienced denial of access to public facilities, and while that kind of thing only rarely happens today, there is at least legal recourse. My parents had no legal recourse.

I participated in the civil rights movement with my dad. He was one of Atlanta’s first black policemen. Living with his struggle to enforce the law for all the people of Atlanta, rather than just enforce white law in black Atlanta, was motivation enough. All of the glaring inconsistencies of what America stands for were placed in my lap as I listened to my dad, and then as I watched him picket by himself and force change on the city of Atlanta.

With the Voting Rights Act — which unfortunately is being dismantled — we have seen the color of American democracy begin to look more like America. That change in the South — which was a very turbulent process — really did usher in the acceptance of diversity that we see all over the country now, with the election of Asian Americans to Congress. And in the South, we have seen more African Americans and Latinos run for election and actually win.

So I’ve been a participant in and a beneficiary of the civil rights movement — and by happenstance, my job now is to fight the so-far successful attempt to throw back those gains.

When we have fully one-third of African-American men under the jurisdiction of the penal system, there’s got to be something wrong. And on top of that kind of victimization, states with high black populations disenfranchise those violators; states with low minority or black populations don’t have the same laws.

On the campaign trail, I meet too many black men who would like to vote, but who have made a mistake in their life, and forever cannot vote. That’s got to be one of the next civil rights issues in the years ahead.

When the fourth district was redrawn, and every political pundit across this country was prognosticating my demise, we put together the right kind of coalition to ensure victory on election night: progressive whites, environmentalists, gays and lesbians, African-Americans, women’s organizations, and labor. The traditional, hard-core constituencies of the Democratic Party came together for me.

Thirty percent of the whites who voted in the election voted for me — a major milestone in Southern politics. However, if my son brings home a 30% grade, he’s failed. So the challenge is to get that 30% up to 50%. If we could get it up to 50%, then we wouldn’t need all the special laws for protection, because access to opportunity would be assured.