60 Years Later, We’re Still Fighting for the Soul of Our Democracy

By State Representative Ron Reynolds

No weapon formed against our democracy shall prosper. We’ve crossed bridges before—we’ll cross this one too. #VotingRightsAct #GoodTrouble

State Representative Ron Reynolds

BLACKPRESSUSA—NEWSWIRE Sixty years ago, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law. It was a historic victory won by the blood, sweat, and sacrifice of Black Americans who refused to accept second-class citizenship. They faced dogs, batons, fire hoses, and fists—not because they broke the law, but because they dared to demand a voice.

They marched from Selma to Montgomery and were beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They bled in the streets of the Jim Crow South so we could vote without fear or suppression. That fight never ended.

Today, the focus has shifted. It’s no longer about Billy Clubs and German Shepherds. Instead, it involves gerrymandered maps, closed polling stations, purged voter rolls, attacks on mail-in voting, and false claims of voter fraud designed to undermine our democracy.

To those who say we’re disrupting the process, I say this: the process was already broken. We didn’t break it; we’re trying to fix it. That’s why I broke quorum in the Texas House, and I’d do it again. I didn’t come to play politics. I came to do what Congressman John Lewis taught us—to get into good trouble, necessary trouble, in the name of justice.

Breaking quorum wasn’t a stunt. It was a stand. When policies silence voters, target communities of color, and rig the system for partisan gain, you don’t just sit quietly. You walk out. You speak up. You fight back.

I thought about my grandparents, who grew up in the segregated South. I thought about my mother, who cast her first ballot with pride because someone had marched for that right. I thought about my children and the world they’ll inherit if we don’t act now.

I did it for the grandmother who’s never missed an election and now doesn’t know where her polling place is. For the young man registering voters on a college campus who’s being told his voice doesn’t count. I did it for neighborhoods split apart to dilute their power.

As Dr. King said, an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. That injustice is here. It’s in our special session agendas designed for anti-voter legislation. In attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and in maps that slice through Black and Brown communities to weaken our voices.

I’m proud to stand in the legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer, who was sick and tired of being sick and tired; of Bob Moses, who built a grassroots movement to register voters; and of Diane Nash, Amelia Boynton, James Bevel, and everyday people who risked everything for the right to vote.

I stand beside a new generation of leaders and everyday Texans who are saying enough is enough. I believe in the power of the people, in a multiracial democracy where every voice counts, and history will remember who stood on the front lines when our democracy was under siege.

The Voting Rights Act was a beginning, not an end. Sixty years later, we are still called to be foot soldiers for freedom. I will not stop fighting, speaking, or marching until every Texan has full access to the ballot promised in 1965.

My faith is strong. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. This is our moment. This is our bridge. And we will cross it together.

Link to original article: OP-ED: 60 Years Later, We’re Still Fighting for the Soul of Our Democracy – BlackPressUSA