Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006

FANNIE LOU HAMER, ROSA PARKS, AND CORETTA SCOTT KING VOTING RIGHTS ACT REAUTHORIZATION AND AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2006

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Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the King amendment which I refer to as ``let's return to the good old days.'' The good old days of literacy tests, because that is what they are talking about. Make no mistake about what we are talking about here today.

In 1975, a bunch of brilliant people finally came up with an answer, and they said we have found a way to become inclusive, to increase voter participation, to make citizens more responsible, to engage them in our society and assimilate into society with a little bit of assistance at the polling place. That is what language assistance is all about. It is about inclusion, not exclusion.

Everything you have heard from the other side and the proponents of this particular amendment is about exclusion, about reducing voter participation. That is what is at stake here today.

I will ask anybody here in this body today that is considering voting for this particular amendment: Do you have campaign material in your career or on your Web site or your newsletters in another language? Let's not be hypocrites. Let's be honest and do the right thing today.

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