Old Times There Are Not Forgotten (Why Southern States Still Need Voting Rights Act pre-clearance)

Graduates of the class of 1973 at St. Martinville, La., Senior High School decided that, after nearly 40 years, they would stop holding segregated class reunions. But old habits die hard, and after the reception before the homecoming game on Friday, Sept. 21 (to which all graduates are invited), the class reunion invitation lists an "After Game Get Together (White Graduates Only)."

Harold Cook, a political humorist from Austin, Texas, mocked Republican complaints that the Justice Department has contested voter suppression laws, particularly in Southern states regulated by the Voting Rights Act because of those states' historic suppression of black voters. "Do Southern states still need Voting Rights Act pre-clearance?" he asked rhetorically. "Because, really, all those attitudes are behind us. Right?"