'Double victory for civil rights'

08:12 PM CST on Thursday, December 1, 2005

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – While honoring civil rights hero Rosa Parks, President Bush on Thursday delighted modern-day black leaders by calling on Congress to renew the provisions of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act that are set to expire.

On the 50th anniversary of Mrs. Parks' refusal to give up to a white man her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., Mr. Bush signed into law a bill directing that a statue of Mrs. Parks go up in the Capitol's Statuary Hall. Mrs. Parks, who died Oct. 24 at age 92, will be the first black woman represented in Statuary Hall, where many states have statues honoring notable people in their history.

Many events in Montgomery and elsewhere Thursday were held in remembrance of Mrs. Parks' stand and the 381-day bus boycott that followed.

In Montgomery, about 2,000 children marched arm-in-arm, singing "We Shall Overcome." DART and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority joined with transit agencies nationwide in reserving a front row seat on every bus in honor of Mrs. Parks.

Mr. Bush credited Mrs. Parks for helping to "set in motion a national movement for equality and freedom."

"Eventually the civil rights movement would succeed in persuading Congress to pass more sweeping legislation that dealt with voting rights and discrimination in public places, and school segregation," the president said. "And the United States Congress should renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965."

That declaration surprised many of the civil rights leaders, Mrs. Parks' relatives and politicians who had gathered at the White House for the signing ceremony. They erupted in applause and rose to give Mr. Bush a standing ovation.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson lavishly praised Mr. Bush for committing to seeing the expiring portions of the Voting Rights Act extended. He called the president's public urging "a significant breakthrough" since he had previously declined even in private to support the renewal.

"That was kind of a double victory for civil rights today," Mr. Jackson said.

The provisions that expire, in 2007, include one requiring states with a history of racial discrimination – mostly in the South – to get federal approval to change their voting laws or district lines and another requiring election officials to provide voting material in the native language of immigrant voters who don't speak English.

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1870, guarantees voting rights for minorities. But the 1965 law clarified and extended those rights. It was pushed through by President Lyndon Johnson in response to states' requirements that black voters pass literacy and other tests.

Mrs. Parks, a former seamstress, became the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, where the bodies of Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy and other national leaders have been paid tribute after their deaths. Statuary Hall is next to the Rotunda.

The bill gives the Capitol Architect's office two years to obtain a statue.

Mr. Bush warmly greeted the bill's sponsors, including Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., and his 2004 opponent for the presidency, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.