Survivors of civil rights activists who died in the struggle for voting rights are speaking out against recent rollbacks of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Supreme Court has effectively dismantled the law in a series of decisions over the past dozen years, including one in April that severely weakened a section of the law that protected voting rights for minority communities.

Personal Loss and Sacrifice

Anthony Liuzzo, whose mother Viola Liuzzo was killed in 1965 while driving civil rights protesters in Alabama, expressed his anger and sadness over the recent decisions. "My mother’s blood is on that bill. We were always proud of that, and now it’s gone," he said. Lisa McNair, whose sister Denise was killed in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, also expressed her outrage and sadness over the rollbacks.

Tamara Orange, whose father James Orange was a civil rights activist who worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said she was relieved that her father was not alive to see the recent decisions. "I’m relieved for them because to me, it’s as though the sacrifices that were made were done in vain," she said.

A Legacy of Sacrifice

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed after years of struggle and sacrifice by civil rights activists. The law was designed to protect the voting rights of minority communities and ensure that they had equal access to the ballot. However, the recent Supreme Court decisions have effectively dismantled the law, leaving many to wonder if the sacrifices made by civil rights activists were in vain.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.