Selma March

22 August 2012 Voting Rights The march lead by John Lewis and Hosea Williams became a major part of history. It’s famous not only for the horrific events that occurred during the march, but also because of what is stood for. Lewis and Williams prepared the march to honor the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson who was killed trying to protect his mother at a civil rights demonstration. It was intended to be a peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery to protest voting rights. As the marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge they were met by state troopers. When asked to stop the march they refused. The marchers were then attacked by dogs, beaten with billy clubs, and sprayed with tear gas. This event later became known as “Bloody Sunday”. Issues today have a lot to do with laws passed to make the voting process very difficult for people of different races. Laws were passed stating that all voters had to show a government issues ID in order to vote. Those without ID are required to obtain which could be a very long and expensive process. It could be argued that the money spent is somewhat of a poll tax. Other issues that are causing much controversy are “As for voter ID reforms, 16 states have passed restrictive voting laws that have the potential to impact the 2012 election. They account for 214 electoral college votes, nearly 79 per cent of the total needed to win the presidency.” (aljazeera.com). Democrats feel as if these laws favor the Republican Party more than the welfare of all other parties. Voting rights is still an issue for most ethnicities today. These problems aren’t as violent as the ones years ago but they should still be addressed. In my opinion, there are still a lot people that have issues with all races having equal rights. In the past those who opposed were more violent and directly denied other races equal rights. In today’s case since everyone is granted the same rights, people are very indirect. Instead of completely denying the rights of everyone