Bush Told Black Caucus He "Didn’t Know Anything About" Voting Rights Act Renewal

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President Bush Told Black Caucus He "Didn’t Know Anything About" Voting Rights Act Renewal, Congressmen Say
Black Congressmen Riled By Bush Ignorance Of Voting Rights Act
By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor
January 31, 2005

President Bush told the congressional black caucus he “didn’t know anything about” renewal of the seminal 1965 Voting Rights Act last Wednesday, RAW STORY has learned.

According to several of the 43-member strong Democratic caucus, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.) asked the president whether he supported extending the Voting Rights Act when it comes up for renewal in 2007.

“He said he didn’t know nothing about it, and he’ll deal with the legislation that comes before him,” Rep. Jackson told RAW STORY
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A Chicago Tribune columnist who wrote about the event yesterday said that another congressman told him Bush’s response was “mind boggling.”

Rep. Jackson said he was “disillusioned and greatly disappointed that a man who just a week or two earlier commemorated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t understand or have an appreciation for the most important piece of legislation for civil rights in the 20th century.”

“The renewal of the voting rights act is in great peril, particularly the sections of the Voting Rights Act that make it effective. [This comment] should activate the Voting Rights Act forces across the country to begin the process of mass education to help move the Congress and the White House [toward] thinking about it as a serious issue.”

Jackson said he felt the meeting was “mostly a PR opportunity,” but that the president was quietly attentive.

“He listened to our concerns,” he said. “He appeared to be taking diligent notes.”

The Voting Rights Act was last renewed and strengthened in 1982 under President Reagan, who sought to dilute the Act. It is up for renewal 25 years after its last renewal, in 2007. The Act outlines provisions by which states are required to ensure equity in voting among minorities and the conditions under which voter discrimination suits can be filed.

Jackson’s press secretary, Frank Watkins, said he thought that the Voting Rights Act had always been looked at with some disdain by Republicans in the South.

“I think the South would take the position that 42 years is enough for the North to keep its foot on the South’s neck,” he said. “What they will try to do is change the critieria for proving voter discrimination in court from proving effect to proving intent. It’s like asking a NBA referee to only call intentional fowls.”

“Jesse said the buzz on the bus coming back from the president’s meeting was that they were astounded the president said he didn’t know anything about it,” he added.