Citizenship in the United States means having the right to vote. However, this right for every citizen did not come without overcoming some racially discriminatory obstacles. One of these obstacles for African-American men were the Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws unfairly discriminated against African-Americans preventing them from casting their ballot at the voting poll. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 ended the overt forms of racial discrimination in voting practices. However, as time has passed and with the June 2013 Supreme Court decision declaring Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act (1965) unconstitutional, many more ambiguous ways to discriminate for elections (especially local) have come about. One form of racial discrimination at the local
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A key solution to this problem starts with educating minority communities on their basic right as a citizen to not only vote, but to choose the candidate of their choice. With increased education, organizations such as the Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union can intervene of these citizens behalf to pursue legal action to rectify these violations of the Voting Rights Act. This practice could also increase minority participation in the political process if they believe that their votes mean something. Especially in local government, it is important to have officials that are not only dedicated to the community, but also officials who understand it. At-large voting practices prevent this from happening by increasing votes for candidates that community members may not want in office. This practice also discourages members of that community to participate because the candidate that they want never gets
A key solution to this problem starts with educating minority communities on their basic right as a citizen to not only vote, but to choose the candidate of their choice. With increased education, organizations such as the Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union can intervene of these citizens behalf to pursue legal action to rectify these violations of the Voting Rights Act. This practice could also increase minority participation in the political process if they believe that their votes mean something. Especially in local government, it is important to have officials that are not only dedicated to the community, but also officials who understand it. At-large voting practices prevent this from happening by increasing votes for candidates that community members may not want in office. This practice also discourages members of that community to participate because the candidate that they want never gets