While removing racist flag; rescind racist voting restrictions

Removing the Confederate Flag from state institutions and other elements of our culture is an important symbolic step in eradicating institutional racism. And that flag, embedded in state government and culture, is institutional racism. When racial dead enders claim it's merely their way of honoring the gallant soldiers defending the Old South, they are rewriting history. For eighty-three years after their defeat,... the South virtually ignored the flag. It was resurrected by the Dixiecrats, the Southern Democratic third party that mounted a presidential challenge to President Harry Truman in 1948, because he desegregated the military and implemented equal employment protections for blacks. From 1948 through the 1960's the flag was used mainly as symbol of resistance to civil rights. After integration was realized, It hung around due to the false narrative of regional pride. 
 

The politicians and the media would have us believe that flag etiquette is the only lesson to take from the Charleston massacre. But symbolism doesn't keep minorities from voting, preventing them full, unfettered citizenship. The substance of voting restrictions is the most insidious form of institutional racism, and it must be ended. How many are even aware that the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015, being introduced today by Senator Patrick Leahy (Dem. VT) and Representative John Lewis (Dem. GA) will do just that. It would restore voting protections to millions of minorities whose voting rights are jeopardized by two troubling developments: hundreds of restrictive voting laws passed by Republican legislatures to suppress the black vote, and the Shelby County v. Holder, Supreme Court decision of June 23, 2013, that eliminated Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required 15 states with a history of voting discrimination to submit any voting laws to Uncle Sam for approval. Sadly, Senator Leahy couldn't find a single Republican to co-sponsor his critically needed bill.
Following the burst of revulsion over the slaughter of innocents, inspired in part, by a racist symbol, and a white supremacist hate group that showers contributions on Republican presidential aspirants, its easy for GOP leaders to tear down the dreaded flag. When they smirk about their magnanimity, demand they do the heavy lifting: support the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015.