Eric Holder Issues Statement on the 61st Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

Washington, D.C. – Today, Eric H. Holder Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), released the following statement on the 61st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which was signed into law on August 6, 1965: 

“Sixty-one years after the enactment of the Voting Rights Act—as a direct result of the Roberts Court’s decades-long quest to undermine the right to vote—our nation is experiencing a modern-day political Jim Crow where too many Republicans act with impunity to dilute the voting power of Black and Latino communities across the country.  

“Our nation now finds itself at a crossroads, and the outcome of the November elections will determine whether we continue to repeat a sordid history or if we can seize the necessary political power to put our country back on a path toward Martin Luther King Jr.’s Promised Land. In honor of those who sacrificed so much so that all would have the right to vote, we all must resolve to do our part and vote in this year’s midterms to elect leaders who are committed to protecting and enhancing our democracy. And when we are successful in reclaiming our nation, we must swiftly use that power to pass bold federal legislation to end the scourge of gerrymandering for good and make our country’s future more just and more fair. 

“Today is not only a day for reflection—remembering those who marched and sacrificed for the right to vote—it is also a day for recommitting ourselves to take up their torch in the struggle ahead. Just as those brave young men and women marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, every generation of Americans has been called upon to do its part to protect our democracy. This is our generation’s turn. There is no cavalry coming to save us—we, the people, are the cavalry.

“We, the people, will win again.”

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