By Any Means Necessary

By Tanya Lasuk

You get freedom by letting your enemy know that you’ll

do anything to get your freedom; then you’ll get it. It’s the only way you’ll get it.

— Malcolm X



Malcolm X. Associated Press, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and retouched. (1963)

When Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, it attacked the machinery of disenfranchisement directly. The law prohibited literacy tests and poll taxes, while authorizing the federal government to intervene where Black voters had long been blocked from registering to vote and casting ballots.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and all its reauthorizations over the years have led to closing the gap between Global Majority (BIPOC) and white levels of participation in elections at all levels of government. This has resulted in large numbers of Global Majority elected officials and legislators as well as appointees at local, state, and federal levels.

President Lyndon Johnson signs Voting Rights Act of 1965. Yoichi Okamoto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In a nation that had zero Black elected representation for most of its history, after the Act’s passage the number of Black Congressional representatives went from a single post-Reconstruction Black representative in the 1930s, to five in 1960, and to ten by 1969.

In 1993, there was a sharp increase from 28 to 49 representatives. Redistricting following the 1990 Census resulted in new majority-Black Congressional districts in the South due to the Voting Rights Act.

In the current Congress, there are 59 voting Black members in the House and two non-voting delegates: Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia) and Stacey Plaskett (U.S. Virgin Islands)—about 14% of the membership.

Supreme Court of the United States at night. Hydetim, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. (2015)

In 2013, Shelby County v. Holder struck down Section 4(b), making it impossible to use Section 5 to prevent new discriminatory voting laws. Unless Congress passes a law with a replacement for Section 4(b) like the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, new voting access restrictions will continue to proliferate.

In 2026, Louisiana v. Callais weaken the ability under Section 2 for individuals to sue to overturn existing discriminatory laws and procedures. This ruling removes racial enfranchisement as a federal protection against gerrymandering.

As easy as it is to assign blame here, our enemy is not people. Our enemy is the unsustainable oppression that attacks equity and cohesion. We will gain freedom for all because of our willingness to act for the future using the means necessary.

“Any means necessary” does not mean “any means at all,” it means “all the means that are necessary to meet our goals.” We want voting access for all because that leads to sustainable, equitable, cohesive Beloved Community.

Sources: Chui, Katherine and Emily Cochrane .“How Did the Voting Rights Act Change Black

Representation in 10 States?” New York Times. April 30, 2026.

Cohn, Nate. “What Peak Gerrymandering Could Look Like Now.” New York Times. April 30, 2026.