3. and demeaning investigations and bringing weakly supported voter fraud prosecutions against Blacks in those areas, such as Perry and Greene Counties, Alabama, where the Voting Rights Act has had some positive effect.2 These prosecutions to undermine the Voting Rights Act are, ironically, instituted under the statutory authority of the Voting Rights Act. We submit that prosecution by the Justice Department of Black voter activists and Black elected officials - and most immediately the cases in Perry and Greene Counties in Alabama cannot be separated from this Administration's opposition to the 1982 extension of the Voting Rights Act. They have not carried where Black voters have complained of fraud. 3 This Administration fought the extension itself and lost. It then fought to weaken the Voting Rights Act by including an intent rather than result requirement in the extension and again lost. It is in this context that the Department of Justice prosecutions against Black voter activists and Black elected officials must be viewed. 2 Compare Major v. Treen, 574 F. Supp. 325 (E.D. La. 1983), where the United States District Court found a violation of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act existed to the detriment of Black voters, after the Department of Justice had found no violation. 3 Note, e.g., that a twenty-five page letter dated May 22, 1984, addressed to Wm. Bradford Reynolds from Carroll Rhodes of Mississippi brought to the Department of Justice's attention a number of voter fraud cases involving white officials. It is our understanding that there has not been a similar investigation of these complaints. 4. In the Perry and Greene Counties prosecutions, the Department of Justice has failed to gain any convictions after three separate trials. In Perry County, Albert and Evelyn Turner and Spencer Hogue have been acquitted. In Greene County, the trial of James Colvin and subsequent trial of Bobby Nell Simpson both ended in hung juries. Commentators have been uniformly appalled by the weak government cases. These prosecutions not only reflect a shift away from enforcing the intent and purpose of the Voting Rights Act but, in a broader sense, the prosecutions themselves and the investigations connected with them conducted by the F.B.I. have substantially ·༄༔སྤུ་༔༄པ Black voters, many of them elderly and disabled, were confronted in Perry and Greene Counties soon after the primary election on September 4, 1984, by F.B.I. agents and questioned about their vote; writing samples, photographs, and fingerprints were taken; the secrecy of their ballot was violated; many were subpoenaed long distances to a grand jury; many initially thought they were themselves being criminally charged. It is not difficult to imagine the effect of these intimidating tactics on Black voters in a region of the country where only recently through very difficult struggles Blacks became able to exercise their right to vote. These witch hunt investigations and subsequent prosecutions have had a substantial and pervasive chilling effect on Black participation in electoral politics as well as on those activists attempting to get out a large Black vote. 5. It was out of concern for the continuing vitality of the Voting Rights Act, concern about the chilling effect of the Justice Department policies and its apparent disregard for the elderly and disabled Black voter, that the N.A.A.R.P.R. organized a delegation, in which I participated, of political, labor, civil rights, and community leaders, headed by Congressman Fauntroy's office, to meet with Stephen Trott, Chief of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department and Wm. Bradford Reynolds, Chief of the Civil Rights Division. While Mr. Trott and representatives of Mr. Reynolds were unable or unwilling to discuss Justice Department policies regarding Voting Rights Act enforcement, Mr. Trott dia was a Departmental priority. What is really going on? Why are Black elderly and disabled voters being intimidated by the F.B. I. at the behest of the Department of Justice leadership? Why are Justice Department prosecutions of Black voter rights activists and Black elected officials occurring in Perry and Greene Counties and throughout the South while enforcement of the Voting Rights Act is ignored? We think these investigations and prosecutions and the intimidating effects they have on Black voters are a direct result of a policy by this Administration against the enfranchisement of Black voters in the South. This policy initially manifested itself in the Administration's opposition to the extension of the Voting Rights Act and, failing this, in its attempts to weaken 6. the Act. The prioritization of alleged voter fraud cases and the selective prosecution of Black voter rights activists and Black elected officials today is the implementation of this Administration's policy to ignore enforcement and to undermine past positive effects of the Voting Rights Act. We think that this shameful policy is rooted in efforts by this Administration for a political realignment of the United States to the right and that, in the Administration's view, essential for that realignment to the right is disenfranchisement of Black voters in the South. We urge Congress to take swift, strong, and certain designated by Congress as chief enforcer of the Voting Rights Act. Frank Chapman Executive Director National Alliance Against Racist Mr. EDWARDS. I welcome and yield to the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Conyers. Mr. CONYERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to underscore the importance of these hearings. This is the Civil and Constitutional Rights Subcommittee of the Congress, and from this committee has come the Civil Rights Acts, the Voting Rights Act, and the reauthorizing of those pieces of legislation over the years. Twenty years ago, as a matter of fact, we passed the Voting Rights Act which broke, for the first time since the Civil War, the blocking of the black vote in the South. In the black belt, which includes Alabama, 70,000 blacks are voting in various elections; 138 have been elected to public office. But the one thing that I think we have learned in this subcommittee is that the struggle for civil rights in America will be written in two phases. The first will be the breaking down of racial barriers and the enacting of laws that support the Constitution involving the right to participate in the electoral process. The second phase of the history of the struggle for civil rights in America will turn around enforcement. This subcommittee has spent thousands of hours with the Department of Justice and their representatives trying to reclarify, to reinvigorate, to motivate and to keep them moving precisely toward the end of the legislation that is written so clearly and unambiguously. So this hearing becomes important to determine what direction the Department of Justice is moving in. It is really critical that we document it. There are still Americans who can't believe that it is exactly what it is. There are still people who think not everybody has the right to vote in the United States of America. There are still Members of Congress who do not understand the incredible, subtle, and overt barriers to participation in the electoral process that are operating right this minute. That is why I am very pleased to have worked with the chairman of this subcommittee, Congressman Edwards, across the years, ever since I came to Congress. He has held hearings throughout the South. We need to go back there more, but the fact of the matter is that there are so many oversight functions of this committee, plus the fact that we are fighting off aggressive reactionary proposals to change the Constitution every month our activities are quite limited. But I am pleased that we hold this hearing during the week of the 15th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Convention. It is important that we understand that the presence of 20 black Members of Congress is largely a direct result of the laws that have been crafted, the oversight that has been visited, the enforcement that has been forced upon other levels of government. Today, we are going to learn something else and arm ourselves for a continuation of this struggle. I thank all the witnesses for journeying for long distances to be before this committee today. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. EDWARDS. Thank you, Mr. Conyers, for a very eloquent statement, from one of the great civil rights leaders of the United States, John Conyers from Michigan. It is a privilege to have him as a long-time member of this subcommittee. Our witnesses this morning will constitute a panel. Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders of Selma, AL, representing an area known as the black belt. He has worked many years with legislation for the black right to vote and has introduced a number of pieces of legislation to ensure that. Mr. Albert Turner from Marion, AL, was a defendant in the first trial, and he is president of the Perry County Civil League, the target of the Justice Department's investigation. And the Reverend O.C. Dobynes, also from Marion, is an active community leader and was one of the persons summoned by the grand jury in Mobile. We welcome you all to Washington. STATEMENTS OF HON. HANK SANDERS, ALABAMA STATE SENATE, SELMA, AL, ALBERT TURNER, PRESIDENT, PERRY COUNTY CIVIL LEAGUE, MARION, AL; AND REV. O.C. DOBYNES, MARION, AL Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I believe perhaps the best way for me to start is for me to try to give a |