Hypocrisy About Voting Rights

Sometimes, pointing out hypocrisy among our political opponents is just too easy.  Case in point:  This weekend, I attended a conference held at the USC Davidson Conference Center in south Los Angeles.  The conference was cosponsored by a veritable who's who of civil rights.  Among the consponsors:  The ACLU, the Asian Law Alliance, the Asian Pacifiic Legal Center, California Common Cause, Chinese for Affirmative Action, League of Women Voters, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund [MALDEF], NAACP Legal Defense Fund, National Association of Latino Elected and Apointed Officals [NALEO], and the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium [NAKASEC].

The speakers and attendees were old and young, elected officials, and activists of European, African American, Asian American, Hispanic, and Native American [American Indian] extraction.  Some had been involved in the passage of the original Voting Rights Act in 1965.  Others were interns just getting their feet wet in the world of political advocacy.  All were committed to getting the Voting Rights Act renewed [the preclearance (sec. 5) and multilingual assistance (sec. 203) provisions expire next year].

Who wasn't there?  Well, no surprise, but I didn't see Jay Imperial.  I didn't see Steven Ly.  And I didn't see Sam Yue.  Hypocrits, all.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  Cancelling an election does not advance anybody's voting rights.