WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act being signed into law:

“50 years ago, our nation sought to begin mending fractures from generations of injustice by passing the Voting Rights Act. This law was an important step forward in America’s unending struggle to be a nation worthy of our underlying principles and values,” said Murphy.

“We cannot allow ourselves to become complacent because the worst of the Jim Crow era is behind us. The fight for our democratic values persists, as forces continue to erect new barriers to voting for minorities, the poor and the elderly,” Murphy added. “Our nation’s leaders have a solemn duty to leave the next generation with a world that is more just, but Congress’s deliberate refusal to restore this landmark civil rights bill in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision sends a signal that discrimination is tolerable if it isn’t overt. If, as a nation, we fail to protect the right of every American to have his or her voice heard at the ballot box, it will leave a dark stain on our democracy and a less free nation for our children.”