美国投票权法案40周年纪念

The Voting Rights Act's 40th Anniversary

美国投票权法案40周年纪念

 

The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. African-Americans, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., take to the streets in peaceful demonstrations² calling for an end to racial discrimination.

 

The images of injustice³ and continued violence began to swing American opinion towards supporting legislation to protect the civil rights of blacks. In 1964 lawmakers passed, and President Lyndon Johnson signed, the Civil Rights Act.

 

The law granted African-Americans the same freedoms as whites, saying blacks could no longer be excluded from restaurants, hotels or other public facilities on the grounds of race, color, religion or national origin.

 

President Johnson: This Civil Rights Act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and in our states and in our homes and in our hearts to eliminate the last vestiges⁵ of injustice in our beloved country.

 

One key demand was still unmet: the right to vote. African-Americans, especially throughout the southern United States, clashed with white police officers that forcibly prevented them from registering to vote.

 

One black demonstrator: And we will register to vote because as citizens of these United States we have the right to do it and you can turn your back on me but you cannot turn your back on the idea of justice.

 

Historian Nick Kotz has written about President Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King's push to win the support of southern conservative lawmakers who tried to block the voting rights legislation.

 

Kotz: The high point of success in this struggle came after there had been a bloody⁶ confrontation⁷ in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. At that point the country said, and you could read it in public opinion polls, they had had enough of this injustice of keeping people of color from voting had to stop. At that point President Johnson provided the national leadership to get the job done.

 

The 1965 Voting Rights Act banned racial discrimination in voting. On August 6th 1965, President Johnson signed the measure into law. Passage of the Voting Rights Act represented a great victory for African Americans who had fought so long.

 

Political Analyst⁸ Thomas Mann with The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. says the Voting Rights Act was important in both a legal and political sense.

 

Thomas Mann: Legally, it finally overcame the many barriers to political participation⁹ by African-Americans whose rights had been denied in the decades after the civil war. Since then we have seen an extraordinary increase in the number of black elected officials at all levels of government and in the voting participation of black citizens.

 

Four decades after passage of the Voting Rights Act, 37-year-old Eugene Grant is the mayor of Seat Pleasant, Maryland outside Washington, D.C. Mayor Grant is one of more than a dozen black mayors elected in the surrounding area.

 

Grant: Five years right after the Voting Rights Act was passed more African-Americans participated in the political process and more African-Americans were able to vote. Here in Seat Pleasant, Maryland in 1970 the first African American male was elected to the high office of mayor.

 

Certain provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act are set to expire in 2007.

 

Mayor Grant says he will join other civil rights leaders in a nationwide fight for the government to renew all parts of the Act in full to ensure strict enforcement of the legislation. Mayor Grant says people should never forget the impact this law has had on black voter participation.

 

Chris Simkins, VOA news, Washington.

 

注释：

demonstration¹ [7demEns5treiFEn] n. 示威

discrimination [dis7krimi5neiFEn] n. 歧视

injustice [in5dVQstis] n. 不公平

facility [fE5siliti] n. 设备

eliminate [i5limineit] vt. 消除

vestige⁴ [5vestidV] n. 痕迹

unmet [Qn5met] adj. 未满足的

forcibly [5fC:sEbEli] adv. 强制地

confrontation [7kCnfrQn5teiFEn] n. 对质

enforcement [in5fC:smEnt] n. 执行

1 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

2 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

3 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

4 vestige   

n.痕迹，遗迹，残余

参考例句：

• Some upright stones in wild places are the vestige of ancient religions.荒原上一些直立的石块是古老宗教的遗迹。
• Every vestige has been swept away.一切痕迹都被一扫而光。

5 vestiges   

残余部分( vestige的名词复数 )； 遗迹； 痕迹； 毫不

参考例句：

• the last vestiges of the old colonial regime 旧殖民制度最后的残余
• These upright stones are the vestiges of some ancient religion. 这些竖立的石头是某种古代宗教的遗迹。

6 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

7 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

9 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。