Open Letter to the Morehouse Community Regarding Supreme Court Ruling

Dear Morehouse Brother,

Yesterday, the Supreme Court turned the pages of history, backwards. Key components in the Voting Rights Act, the most important civil rights legislation in this country, were struck down. Enacted in 1965 to protect the right to vote of all citizens during a time of overt racial discrimination in this country, these acts have proven to be successful with record-breaking voter turnout of minorities and youth. However, the Supreme Court ruled that protecting citizens in areas of immense history of voter discrimination in 1965 (and extended by Congress as recently as 2006 for 25 years) is unconstitutional.

This is a huge hit to the country that needed this protection as recently as the 2012 election to fight voter suppression laws in some of these very states. This decision essentially clears the map and leaves it up to Congress to decide which areas across the country should be susceptible to monitoring by the federal government. With all of the political partisanship and bickering in Congress, this can be a difficult task. However, if the 89th Congress in 1965 could do what was best for the entire country then the 113th Congress should be able to do the same.

Further, this decision calls for a new generation to pick up the baton 50 years since the March on Washington and the famous “I Have a Dream” Speech by Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. ’48 and fight. True to our nature as renaissance men with a social conscious, we must organize, strategize, and mobilize our community to demand Congress protect the right to vote for our generation and those to come.

Specifically, call, email, or tweet your congressman today and ask them to protect our vote. Additionally, lets do what we do best and use our social media to spark a social change! Hit up your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and let the nation know that this generation will fight to #ProtectOurVote.

Finally, let us remember the words in Ecclesiastes 3:7, “There is a time to be silent and a time to speak”. The clock is ticking…so lets start speaking!

Yours Truly,

Stephen A. Green ‘14
President, Morehouse NAACP

Reflecting on the Legacy of Medgar Evers

by Andre' Cotten, NAACP Law Fellow

As a native of Mississippi, I have always known about the slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. When I returned home from law school for a couple weeks this past May, I even made sure that I made time to visit the newly opened Medgar Evers exhibit in downtown Jackson. Since I was preparing to move to Baltimore to work for the NAACP, I thought that it was important that I remind myself of the life and legacy of those people who had fought and sacrificed their lives long ago.

Upon arriving at the NAACP, I was elated to learn that my colleagues and I would have the opportunity to attend the wreath laying ceremony at Arlington Cemetery for Medgar Evers. However, to my surprise, some of my colleagues were unfamiliar with Evers, his life, nor his work before coming to work for the association this past week.

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2013 ACT-SO Rewind, Pt. 2

The wait is over--in three weeks! ACT-SO will take over Orlando, FL and make history. See some of this year's competitors social media updates in our second installment of The Road to Orlando.

Use the #ACTSO hashtag to share your updates for our next roundup.

Let the Fight Continue

by John Gaskin, III

In the 50's and 60's, black people would wear their Sunday’s best to the polls to vote, a right they fought for. Today, when I think about voting rights in America, images of John Lewis, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the thousands trampled and beaten come to mind. This is not just imagery that should move us to vote on each Election Day, but it is also imagery we should carry with us as we continue to fight for free and unfettered access to the ballot box.

In recent years African American youth, along with people of color, came to the polls in record numbers. But the attack continues.

In the run-up to the 2012 elections, we saw the right to vote of college students, the elderly, and most of all people of color attacked in state legislatures across the country. In 2013, 80 voter suppression laws have been introduced already.  We need to fight these laws now and  prepare to fight in 2014.The months leading up to state gubernatorial elections next year will be crucial if we want to ensure access to the ballot box for our generation. And If the last couple years is any indicator; we should expect legislators to continue pushing legislation to silence our voices at the polls.

Although the next presidential election is not until 2016 hundreds of congressional seats, and local and state policies are now at stake. The right to suffrage is more important now than ever before.

We cannot afford to fall asleep this off season. This is OUR call, OUR time, and OUR moment Youth and College. WE are the ones we have been waiting for.

TAKE ACTION NOW.

What can you do?

Click here and join the National Youth and College Division’s Voting Rights Campaign, and let us help you work to defend democracy in your community, on your college campus and throughout the state.