During his life, King had witnessed dramatic change: brave Americans demonstrating nonviolently for equality, a Supreme Court recognizing that separate is not equal justice under law, and a federal government courageously passing the Voting Rights Act, despite its political consequences, because it was the right thing to do.

In King's time, there were poll taxes and literacy tests. Now, restrictive photo ID bills are the avant-garde method of suppressing the vote. Texas Gov. Rick Perry even fast-tracked photo ID law as "emergency" legislation….

 

Not to be outdone by their brethren in Wisconsin or Texas, Ohio Republicans are pushing through a controversial photo ID bill without significant debate. Because, as election law expert Daniel Tokaji wrote, there is an "utter lack of evidence that the new ID bill would address any real problem," Ohio Republicans are falling back on trickery to get their bill passed: ramming it through while the rest of the state focuses on the fight over collective bargaining.

New Hampshire Republicans (and their Tea Party allies) tried to disenfranchise the state's college students. In Colorado, Missouri and Arizona, Republicans support onerous "proof-of-citizenship" bills that erect barriers to keep Hispanic voters at home on election day.

 

King's vision is for all of us; no one person or party has license over it. But as state leaders around the country are busting unions, making it more difficult for people of color to vote and intentionally subverting the Voting Rights Act, I can feel my feet slipping on the ground beneath and I can feel our country falling back.