When the Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in August 1965, not a mention of it was made locally.
The dominant headline in the Aug. 8, 1965 edition of the Chula Vista Star News shouted: RABIES ALARM SPREADS AS INFECTED DOG SHOT. Below that was a story detailing a request to the U.S. Attorney General to investigate the alleged beating of “a Mexican alien by a San Ysidro border patrolman”, as well as a story about a distracted driver crashing into the home of a National City man—the cause of the distraction was a bee molesting the driver.
The absence of coverage is defensible. A local paper’s goal is to reflect the stories of interest relevant to the city and people it serves. Chula Vista’s population was super-majority white at the time and the nation’s civil rights movement seemed to barely register.
But even the paper’s editorial page, where there is more leeway to discuss issues near and far, failed to acknowledge a landmark decision prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. It’s as if Black people gaining legal assurances to the right of representation didn’t warrant attention.
But what did merit commenting were the LA (Watts) riots that took place a short-time after the Voting Rights Act became law.
The riots were in response to police violence in the Black community and the years of oppression and discrimination meted out against non-whites.
In lamenting the violence that accompanied the protests, a Star-News column also opined: “Negroes are beginning to taste freedom and realize that they HAVE been treated unfairly these past 175 years.”
Hindsight provides room to the observer to quibble and criticize. It should not have been only the “negro” population that realized that Black people were treated unfairly. The rotten, abominable treatment should have been apparent to everyone. A quick litmus test is “Would I want to be treated that same way?”
Fast forward to 2026 and the Supreme Court’s recent decision to undermine the Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed protections against racial discrimination in voting. It should be abundantly clear that restricting anyone’s right to vote can serve as a prelude to restrict everyone’s right to vote. Vigilance is integral to preserving our rights.
