NAACP protests challenge to section of Voting Rights Act
By From staff reports
Published in News on April 30, 2009 1:46 PM
Local members of the NAACP joined with other members of the state organization Wednesday in traveling to Washington, D.C., to express opposition to a constitutional challenge to the Voting Rights Act.
A challenge to Section 5 of the measure is being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Section 5 guarantees majority minority districts in municipalities, counties, legislative and congressional districts that had a past history of not electing blacks to office.
It is the reason that the redistricting for public offices in Wayne and surrounding counties that was done in the 1980s as a way to create districts that contained a majority of black voters.
Forty counties in North Carolina, including Wayne, are covered by the act.
The Rev. William Barber of Goldsboro, president of the state NAACP, led the delegation.
"Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act should be made stronger, not weaker, especially in North Carolina," Barber said in a news release.