Medgar Evers and The Long Fight to Secure Civil Rights
On June 12, 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was assassinated in his home in Mississippi by white-supremacist Bryon De La Beckwith. Not five hours after President John F. Kennedy made his famous Report to the American People on Civil Rights speech in response to threats of violence and obstruction following desegregation efforts on the University of Alabama campus, highlighting the negative effects of discrimination and the need for legislation to protect civil rights, the news of Evers’ death was met with national outrage, as support for the future Civil Rights Act of 1964 soared.
Medgar Evers was born in Mississippi on July 2, 1925. He began his career in civil rights working part-time for the NAACP after graduating college in 1952. Upon the historic decision in Brown v. Board, Evers quit his job as an insurance salesman, and applied to the University of Mississippi Law School with aspirations of joining the legal battles for civil rights. However, Evers was denied admission into Mississippi’s oldest and still segregated public institution. This was a blessing, as his attempt to integrate the law school caught the attention of the national office of the NAACP, who asked Evers to be the first field secretary of the NAACP in the state of Mississippi. There, Evers became an instant force and champion for civil rights, quickly becoming the most prominent civil rights leader in Mississippi - a state plagued by racial tensions, segregation, and discrimination. He championed many causes for civil rights, focusing his efforts on increasing participation in the NAACP, voter registration and protection, and boycotts of white-owned businesses that discriminated against African Americans and other minorities.
The shot to Evers’ back on June 12, 1963 added to the deafening and ever-growing noise of racism and hate in America. The pain, heartache, and reality of racism and oppression fueled the fight for civil rights, desegregation, and racial equality, and strengthened the push to enact legislation to achieve it.
Evers will go down in history as a leader for civil rights in America. Yet, he is just one of many who have lived, fought, and died for civil rights. Malcolm X and Dr. King, heroes sung and unsung, people visible and unseen have laid down their lives in the search for racial equality and justice. It is not enough to honor their legacies through words, posts, or speech, we must continue their fight and exercise those rights and freedoms that have come far from free.
55 years after the assassination of Medgar Evers, who spent his lifetime fighting for voting rights, state primaries are taking place in 5 states: Virginia, South Carolina, Nevada, Maine, and North Dakota. These primaries, along with the primary elections that have been and will be held in the remaining 45 states throughout the coming months, come at a crucial and tumultuous time for our nation, as the 2018 midterm elections mark a decisive time for the protection of civil rights. It is no secret that the Trump Administration has brought new threats to civil rights. From voter suppression, to racial gerrymandering, to outright discrimination against the LGBT and other minority communities, we are witnessing a systematic attack on the civil rights that are fundamental to our existence, democracy, and humanity. Voting rights are civil rights, as they give voters the power to choose who will represent them, who will write laws, who will decide cases, and who we will entrust to protect and advance our civil rights. Thus, voting is not just a privilege or a right, it is a duty, not just to one’s self, but to those who have fought and died so one day others could.
To say that this week’s decision in Husted v. A. Phillip Randolph Institute is disheartening is an understatement. In the words of Justice Sotomayor “[i]n concluding that the Supplemental Process does not violate the NVRA, the majority does more than just misconstrue the statutory text. It entirely ignores the history of voter suppression against which the NVRA was enacted and upholds a program that appears to further the very disenfranchisement of minority and low-income voters that Congress set out to eradicate.” The acceptance of Ohio’s voter-purge program, a tactic used for decades to discriminate against and suppress voters, turns the clock backwards on the protection of voting rights, and leaves open the door for other states to adopt these destructive practices of blocking individuals from accessing the democratic system. This decision puts a mirror up to the state of our country, displaying in full-view how our rights and freedoms are being snatched away from us by the center of our government. One cannot turn a blind-eye to the damage that is being done in this country by efforts of politicians, legislation, and individuals who have made it their mission to disenfranchise minorities and undo the progress for which so many lives were lost. It is now more important than ever to continue the long fight to secure civil rights by protecting and exercising the rights that we hold dearest to the mission of equality, freedom, and justice for all. Today, that means going out and voting, and playing your part in fighting for your rights.
Regina Fairfax is an intern at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil rights Under law and a rising junior at Harvard University.
