Independence Day ... For Some

NAACP Presidents Dan Basket (Allentown), Esther Lee (Bethlehem) & Verna Howard (Easton)

It may have been Independence Eve, but the Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton NAACPs planned no celebrations. "Enjoy yourselves tomorrow, as they celebrate their holiday," Bethlehem NAACP President Esther Lee told a group of fifteen civil rights leaders. They met at Bethlehem's Payrow Plaza to protest a recent 5-4 Supreme Court decision that gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Designed to ensure ballot access and combat racial gerrymandering, the Voting Rights Act requires mostly Southern states to get clearance from the Justice Department before making even minor changes, like moving a polling place. But Chief Justice John Roberts complained that the latest version of the Act, adopted in 2006, is "based on 40-year-old facts having no logical relationship to the present day.”

Contending that the Voting Rights Act is designed to protect the rights of all people, Lee claimed, "This is not a partisan issue, it is an American issue." Allentown NAACP President Dan Basket and his Easton counterpart, Verna Howard, echoed Lee.

There was some mild disagreement over the Voter ID Law. Basket called it a disenfranchisement of the minority vote, while Howard has no issue with producing an ID.

One onlooker, on his way out of the nearby library, told these leaders, "If you want to vote, please get an ID."

"Identify yourself!", demanded Lee. He did, but left immediately.

"It's almost like they don't consider us human beings," lamented Lee. "We're still slaves in their eyes."