out election abuse, we are troubled with actions that adversely affect the efforts of black and other minority Americans to exercise the fundamental right to vote. So, this morning we are going to hear from three witnesses involved with the Perry County case, which has been closed with acquittals. This afternoon, the Justice Department is going to come over and testify, as will a representative of the Southern Poverty Law Center. I ask unanimous consent that the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression's statement be made a part of the record, and without objection it will be made a part of the record. [The statement follows:] LECOM ONSTANT NATIONAL ALLIANCE AGAINST RACIST & POLITICAL REPRESSION 126 West 119th Street Suite 101 New York, NY 10026 • 212/866-8600 BAGGLE-LA 廣 CHAIRPERSONS Henry Foner FLM Local 1. United Food and Commercial Workers 45. CIC Atty. Lennox Hinds VICE-CHAIRPERSONS Anne Bragen Southern Organizing Committee for Economic & Social Justice Judge Margaret Burnham National Conference of Political Prisoner TREASURER Atty. O. Stephen Paganuzzi, Jr. GENERAL COUNSEL Atty. Adjoa Alyetoro EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Testimony of the NATIONAL ALLIANCE AGAINST RACIST AND POLITICAL REPRESSION Before the House Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights Presented by: Frank Chapman, Executive Director 126 West 119th Street New York, New York 10026 (202) 866-8600 I would like to thank Chairman Edwards and the other members of the Subcommittee for this opportunity to present the views of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (N.A.A.R.P.R.) on the issue of Justice Department infringement on voting rights in Alabama specifically, and the South, generally. The N.A.A.R.P.R. was founded in 1973 in response to increasing and recurring acts of government repression against Black and other political and civil rights organizers. It is comprised of individuals and organizations with Branches throughout the country including Alabama. Since its founding, the N.A.A.R.P.R. has successfully organized mass struggles to reverse racist and political repression cases. Some of the more notable cases include Rev. Ben Chavis and the Wilmington 10, George Merritt, Lennox Hinds, Mayor Eddie Carthan, and John Nobles. Since 1981, the N.A.A.R.P.R. has worked extensively in the South around the issue of the Federal and State Governments' attempts to undermine the Voting Rights Act by seeking to incarcerate Black voting rights activists and Black elected officials such as Mayor Eddie Carthan, John Nobles, Sen. Henry Kirksey, and Mayor Milton Tutwiler in Mississippi. The prosecutions of these officials were viewed by us, Black people in the South and people throughout the country, as attempts to take back the hard-won gains of the 1960's which culminated in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Black 2. people in the South in the 1970's and 1980's were beginning to win significant, although minimal, victories at the polls in positions which had heretofore been held by members of the white race.1 We view the 1984-1985 witch hunt investigations in the Alabama Black Belt and the prosecutions now occurring in Perry County and Greene County, Alabama, as merely intensified expressions of this five-year attempt in the South by States, and now the Federal Government, to take back these small voting rights gains. We welcome and applaud the fact that these Congressional hearings are occurring to review the Federal Government's role in undermining the intent and purpose of the 1965 Voting Rights Act as extended in 1982. Unfulfilled Goals." Signif massive noncompliance with the Voting Rights Act. This was amply documented in the 1981 report by the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights entitled "The Voting Rights Act icantly, the counties of the present Alabama prosecutions Perry and Greene are not cited in this Report as areas of noncompliance. Faced with massive noncompliance with the Voting Rights Act throughout the South, the Justice Department has placed its emphasis not on enforcing the Act where needed but, instead, on conducting intimidating 1 The 1980 census, reported in the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights' report, "The Voting Rights Act - Unfulfilled Goals," demonstrates the slight gains. In Alabama, Blacks were 25.6% of the population; there were 4,151 elected officials of which 238, or 5.7%, were Black. In Mississippi, Blacks were 35.2% of the population; there were 5,271 elected officials of which 387, or 7.3%, were Black. Similarly, in South Carolina, Blacks were 30.4% of the population with 3,225 elected officials, 238, or 7.4%, of whom were Black. |