PoliticsNation   |  January 23, 2013

Moving beyond the poll tax

49 years ago, the 24th Amendment forbidding poll taxes in federal elections was ratified. Rev. Al Sharpton remembers this voter suppression tactic and reminds us that the fight for voting rights isn’t over.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> 49 years ago today, the 24th amendment was ratified. it eliminated the poll taxes in federal elections . that was a key victory for civil rights . poll taxes were an essential part of southern state 's strategy to block voting . during the jim crow era , there were also literacy tests with impossible questions that they would ask people to answer. such as how many bubbles on a bar of soap? how many jelly beans in a jar? but amazingly, today, some conservatives are even trying to co-opt the civil rights movement itself. to advance their right wing agenda on everything from guns to women's health.

>> the modern equivalence of the civil rights act is that you people defending and loyal to the second amendment are not the bull connors, you're the martin luther kings. you're the people matching at selma. you're having your civil rights denied.

>> the government doesn't have a role in contraception. government does have a role in protecting your civil rights . especially today, on martin luther king day .

>> i think martin luther king would agree with me if he were alive today that if african americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country's founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history.

>> two misquote leaders and figures that fought for freedom and inequality is dishonest. to misuse them is disgraceful. thanks for