June flag. (Getty Photos)
During a news conference commemorating June 11, lawmakers from the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus complained about a potential voter photo ID constitutional amendment and defended an Ohio voting rights group whose offices were raided by the FBI.
Juneteenth recognizes the final emancipation of enslaved African Americans on June 19, 1865, at the end of the Civil War. Former President Joe Biden made June 11 a federal holiday in 2021.
Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President and state Rep. Terrence Upchurch, R-Cleveland, said June 11 is a reminder that progress won’t happen on its own.
“The law on paper means little if people can’t achieve it in real life,” he said.
Club members tied the holiday to current trends in Ohio regarding voter access. A constitutional amendment that would require photo ID to vote will be on the ballot in November, after Republican state legislators passed a resolution on the ballot last week.
State law already requires citizens to provide photo ID before voting. But placing the requirement in the state constitution would make it tough for future legislatures to change the requirements without passing another constitutional amendment, said state Rep. Meredith Lawson Rowe, D-Reynoldsburg.
Some scientific research indicates that voter ID laws disproportionately prevent eligible minority communities from voting, but other research concluded that the data were inconclusive. The club supports expanding early voting and access to absentee ballots, as well as increased voter education to protect “every lawful ballot,” she said.
“The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus believes that elections can be both secure and accessible,” Rowe added. “In Ohio we can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time.”
Club members also took the opportunity to express support for the Ohio Organizing Commission following reports that FBI agents searched the organization’s offices in Cleveland on Thursday.
Upchurch called the reports “disturbing” and added that they came at a time when voting rights, civic engagement and community organizations are “under attack.”
State Rep. Dontavius Jarrells, R-Columbus, said the reports reminded him of Fannie Lou Hamer, a black voting rights activist in the Civil Rights Movement who faced retaliation from white Southerners for trying to vote in Mississippi. Despite the attacks, Jarrells said Hamer continued to organize to enhance Black voter turnout.
“We must protect the right to vote,” he said. “We must not let fear determine who belongs to democracy and who does not.”
State Rep. Darnell Brewer, D-Cleveland, said Juneteenth also celebrates Black people’s freedom from the economic system of slavery. Brewer advocated pursuing “economic freedom” to make everyday costs such as health care, child care and education more affordable.
State Rep. Latyna M. Humphrey, R-Columbus, criticized leadership in the state Legislature for making changes to laws, such as a constitutional amendment requiring photo ID to vote, instead of cutting costs.
“Ohioans have every right to question why the Legislature is quicker to restrict participation than to address the challenges that everyday families face,” Humphrey said.
