Opinion

OP-ED: Celebrating the Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

Published

12 years ago

August 3, 2014

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act.

The law was quickly followed by the Voting Rights Act, which immediately had an impact on one of the most important civil rights – the right to vote. LBJ considered the Voting Rights Act his signature legislative achievement.

In 1965, 250,000 African Americans registered to vote and the number of African American elected officials quickly increased from literally a handful in 1964 to 4,912 in 1980 nationwide, the year African American elected participation reached its high-water mark.

After Congress amended the law to include bilingual election requirements in 1975, the number of Latinos registered to vote nearly doubled in twenty years. And for Asian Americans, that number grew 56 percent from 1996 to 2006. A nation so diverse – and becoming more so every year – needs to ensure that our Congress and state legislatures accurately reflect our citizens.

We’ve made a lot of progress since 1965, but the fight for justice rages on, particularly since our Supreme Court severely weakened this landmark law last year by striking down two key provisions – one of which required states and local governments to obtain clearance before changing their voting law practices.

What’s the best way to celebrate these most important milestones, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act? The answer is clear – by registering to vote and by making sure we cast our ballots on Election Day.

Voting needs to be second nature, particularly in communities that are still struggling to be fully heard. That’s why I strongly believe we need to engage our kids early and often in the political process.

We need them to understand why voting is important. I even take my own daughters, who are eight and eleven years old, with me when I go to the polls so they can see firsthand why voting is central to our democracy.

We need to help children understand why it’s important to vote. To build a better future, we need to wake up, get involved and participate in our democratic process.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve mentored many students and youth in various programs throughout my career. Many of the youth come from at-risk communities and have had to overcome major obstacles in their lives.

Last week I reconnected with four of them unexpectedly through various contexts, events, phone calls and venues. It was great to hear about how they overcame those obstacles, graduated high school, enrolled in college and starting working in excellent jobs.

I’m excited to be connected again to these youth, now as young adults. For many of them, there are still mountains to climb, but I know they are civically minded and active in their communities.

Not only will they vote on Election Day, but they’ll also encourage their friends to vote.

That’s exactly what we need to do – help register our friends and family and then motivate and mobilize them to vote in November.

That’s why I’m organizing local voter registration teams. You can register to vote or join our efforts at: www.TonyThurmond.com/register

One of the best ways to celebrate the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act is to help our friends and neighbors register to vote Find out more at www.TonyThurmond.com

Tony Thurmond

Tony Thurmond is a candidate for the state Assembly District 15.

Oakland Post

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Arts and Culture

COMMENTARY: Black Music is the Sound of Black Freedom: Let Us Reclaim Both This Juneteenth

Black Music Month started when Black Music Association members Ed Wright, Kenny Gamble and his wife, journalist and radio host Dyanna Williams were able to persuade President Jimmy Carter to establish the observation on June 7, 1979.

Published

3 days ago

June 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Robert Johnson (1911-1938) is thought of as the godfather of blues music, especially Delta blues. The 29 songs recorded by him during his short life have been of massive inspiration to guitarists and musicians over the last 80 years. Public domain photo.

By Wanda Ravernell

Black Music Month and Juneteenth are inextricably linked – Black music is the sound of our freedom.

From the plaintive moans of the enslaved Africans’ ‘sorrow songs,’ to the fields of Civil War battle where Black soldiers picked up abandoned bugles, to the upright piano played in juke joints on Saturday night and churches come Sunday morning, our ancestors’ innovation in the face of want, fear, degradation, and hopelessness has yielded genres of music imitated ’round the world.

In 2000, Congress made it official. In 2009, Pres. Barack Obama changed the name to African American Music Heritage Month and in 2023, Pres. Joe Biden changed it back to Black Music Month, two years after he declared Juneteenth a national holiday, the result of a movement led by Opal Lee.

Our ancestors battle for freedom over these last 400 years and the music that allowed them expression of their humanity deserved to be honored.

But we may be losing sight of the value of their sacrifices.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Faith That the Dark past Has Taught Us…’

Along with the long-known exploitation of Black musicians whose recordings were stolen by record companies, the commercialization of Juneteenth feels like another kind of theft.

I had never heard of Juneteenth until I moved to the Bay Area from my hometown of Philadelphia. I didn’t know it was one of many freedom festivals celebrated by descendants of enslaved people in the United States.

Emancipation Day was Jan. 1 in Pennsylvania, April 16 in Wash., D.C., May 20 in Florida, and Aug. 8 in Kentucky. But Juneteenth, June 19, has the most renown, known in Texas as the ‘colored peoples’ Fourth of July.’

It was marked by parades, beauty pageants, rodeos, backyard barbecues and church picnics.

Yes, church.

The formerly enslaved began the day praying in thanks for their freedom just as they had prayed for Jubilee – the day of freedom – when they had chains on their feet and hands. They ‘testified’ about their past suffering and how they had managed to overcome.

And they sang.

Although, we will not hold it this year, Omnira Institute’s Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance recalled this part of Juneteenth with prayers in the languages of the African captives. In the middle of the ceremony, a soloist would lead us in singing “Many Thousand Gone” while we took turns reciting portions of the Emancipation Proclamation, the news of freedom that took more than two years to reach Texas – two months after the Civil War ended.

“Many Thousand Gone” was famously recorded by Black luminary Paul Robeson in 1947:

“No more auction block for me,

No more, no more

No more auction black for me

Many thousand gone.”

Other verses refer to the ‘pint of salt’ and the ‘driver’s lash,’ the realities of enslavement that they had survived.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Hope That the Present has Brought Us’

All of the genres of African American music have at their root songs like that, the essence being, as Stevie Wonder, wrote, “the joy inside our pain.” So Black music is not just music. It is our story, our history, our very strength.

During the Civil Rights Movement, which peaked 100 years after slavery ended, the people testified that it was the freedom songs – based on spirituals – that gave them the heart to march, face attack dogs, fire hoses, beatings, and shootouts with vigilantes.

The music reminded them that power was in the people. That music, our music, can do so again. We don’t have to accept the commodification of the products of our culture.

The power of those songs is showing a resurgence across the South as we battle again for the right to self-determination through the ballot box.

Those songs are the voices of our ancestors, voices forged in their blood, their sweat, their tears, joy and, above all, faith. Those songs, those prayers live in our blood and our very breath.

This Juneteenth, let us reclaim those holy voices expressed in Black music for ourselves. It is our birthright. It can neither be bought nor sold. No more. Never again.

Wanda Ravernell is the executive director of Omnira Institute, sponsor for 18 years of the Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance and Oakland’s 11^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, which will take place on Sept. 12.