Photo credit: Darryl D. Smith

Rainbow-PUSH Coalition volunteers kick off the Keep the Vote Alive March in Atlanta.

Kyle Morris failed to snag one of the free T-shirts tossed into the crowd during the recent voting rights march in Atlanta, but he got something better: a feeling that he had managed to make a difference.

"It's important to support the black movement," said Morris, 21, a Michigan State University senior and criminal justice/political science major. "Your vote is your only voice that you have politically. If coming from Detroit is a small step to contributing to the cause, then that's what I'll do. I don't mind making this trip."

His journey from Michigan to the Aug. 6 Keep the Vote Alive March was much more than an attempt to collect free clothing. For him, as for many among his generation, who turned out in record numbers to cast their votes in 2004, the right to vote is worth marching for. They're looking ahead to 2007, to the expiration of several key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the battle in Congress over renewing them.

"It's important to continue what was started 40 years ago, and carry the torch that was lit, and not let the fire die," said Anthony Rhone, 24, who recently graduated from Tennessee State University with a degree in speech communication.

The 40th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Aug. 6, 1965, signing of the Voting Rights Act. celebrated by the march, helped many see that the debate over preserving it is beginning to take shape. There is talk among some in Congress of strong bipartisan support for renewing the legislation, which removed legal obstacles and discrimination preventing African Americans from voting. But racial and partisan tensions over reauthorization have made some of the battle lines clearer.

For example, among the provisions set to expire is a rule that certain states must get federal approval before they can change their voting laws. This protection was put in place because some states had laws that would restrict blacks from voting. Some states now want to be freed from this law, and some politicians maintain that everyone who is eligible to vote already can.

However, the experience of many students at historically black colleges who attempted to vote in the 2004 election shows that obstacles still exist. In separate incidents, several students at Benedict College, Albany State University and other institutions were denied access to the ballot because of subtle roadblocks put up by their states or by local voting authorities. Too few voting machines, too few provisional ballots, Republican challenges to students' right to vote using campus addresses: all kinds of problems arose.

This past year, national voting law required first-time voters who registered by mail to present identification. States decided what type of I.D. would be acceptable, so the rules differed across the country. As reported on Black College Wire, some locations did not accept college identification cards, while others turned students away if they could not present identification showing a local address.

One example was cited by former president Bill Clinton during an Aug. 3 address at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta. At the public Georgia Institute of Technology, a student can use his college identification card to register to vote, Clinton said, but at Morehouse College, a private school, a college I.D. is considered insufficient proof for registering. Georgia requires voters to present a "state-issued" identification.

"All over America there are efforts being made to restrict access to the vote under the guise of preventing voter fraud," Clinton said. He criticized voter registration policies that restrict whether college students can vote where they are living.

Photo credit: Darryl D. Smith

Kyle Morris of Michigan State University said, "It's important to support the black movement."

A sea of people, estimated at 15,000 by Atlanta police, rolled through downtown on a 90-degree day to support a national petition led by Jesse Jackson to urge Congress to extend provisions of the law. Hundreds of young black faces were beacons of hope, evidence that they were invested in maintaining their rights as citizens.

"If we lose our right to vote, it infringes on all of our other rights," said Kerri Coleman, 24, a recent education graduate of Fort Valley State University in Georgia. She said that youth have to take a step back and truly recognize what is at stake.

Her twin sister, Terri Coleman, also graduated from Fort Valley State. "I don't believe enough are out here," she said of the young people. "There are not enough college students supporting the cause."

Others were impressed by the turnout. Rita Samuels, founder of the Georgia Coalition of Black Women, challenged young voters to do more than simply pound the pavement for a good cause.

"It's good to see the youth make the sounds of their feet heard," Samuels said. "But I want them to work to implement the initiatives that we want done."

Shandon Anderson, an NBA free-agent guard and forward who donates much of his free time and earnings to youth programs, stressed that youth must assert themselves. "We want to be heard," he said. "The only way to be heard is to vote. It's important for teens to be a catalyst to help secure their voting rights."

Judge Greg Mathis, the television courtroom referee, applauded the hundreds of young people who made it a point to attend.

"The youth of the 1960s helped make change," he said. "By voting, youth are stepping to the plate to take back the country. I'm proud to see it."

Ken Carter, the subject of this year's hit film "Coach Carter," said he was amazed by what he had seen from the youth participants.

"These bright young minds and students of HBCUs like Morehouse are going to make all the difference in the world," he said.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, who worked with Martin Luther King Jr. as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, called on Americans to block those who would "turn back the clock on our voting rights."

"We all came [to the march] to ask America to save her soul, because it's in peril," he said, riding slowly on the back of a cart in the march.

Alexander Ford is a recent graduate of Hampton University.

Posted Aug. 10, 2005