Voting Rights Act Of 1965 Pros And Cons

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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments were created to prohibit and expel the issues of discrimination against people of color, but the issues each specific race dealt with were not all given equal attention and solved around the same times. Although the first VRA act passed was a significant milestone in allowing minorities to vote, it focused on addressing the African American community’s woes. As a result, this left similar issues that Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans face, up in the air. While these issues have been addressed over the years there is still seemingly a lack of minority representation in today’s government. The problem Congress sought to address when passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was that of discrimination and prejudice against citizens (mainly those of color at the time of the passing) who were being denied or abridged from voting. More specifically though, the Act got rid of literacy tests which would be filled with highly complex questions whose sole purpose was to drive them away from voting booths. It also set up stricter provisions, as well as opportunities for the government to intervene in voting practices if need be. One of the most positive outcomes of the …show more content…

Before the legislation was passed Black voters were often mislead and provided with false information, and in some odd cases were even asked to recite the entire Constitution. To make matters worse, because of oppression and poverty, many voters of color were often illiterate. Putting all these issues together and adding them up simply made it near impossible for African Americans to vote, and these are just a few of the common examples of what Congress had to ensure was abolished when passing the VRA in 1965. The Immigration and Nationality Acts of 1965 had seemingly little, if not none effects whatsoever on African

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