Obama Writes Letter to the Editor on Voting Rights

The New York Times received a notable letter to the editor this week-- from President Barack Obama. The letter was in response to a New York Times Magazine article that described efforts to dismantle the protections established by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

"These efforts are not a sign that we have moved past the shameful history that led to the Voting Rights Act," Obama wrote. "Too often, they are rooted in that history. They remind us that progress does not come easy, but that it must be vigorously defended and built upon for ourselves and future generations."

The president wrote that he was touched by the article's portrayal of Rosanell Eaton, 94, who was one of the first black voters to register in her North Carolina county in 1939. He added that he is in the White House because women like Eaton "refused to accept anything less than a full measure of equality."

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