Black voters can make or break a presidential election—look at the close electoral results in 2000 and the difference the disenfranchised Black vote in Florida alone might have made. Black candidates can influence a presidential election—look at the effect that Jesse Jackson had on the Democratic party, the platform, and the electorate in 1984 and 1988, and the contributions to the Democratic debates that Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton made in 2004. American presidential politics can't get along without the Black vote—witness the controversy over candidates' appearing (or not) at the NAACP convention, or the extent to which candidates court (or not) the Black vote in a variety of venues. It all goes back to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which formally gave African Americans the right to vote, even if after all these years that right is continuously contested. In Freedom Is Not Enough (a quote from Lyndon Johnson's 1965 commencement address to Howard University just before he signed the Voting Rights Act), Ronald W. Walters traces the history of the Black vote since 1965, celebrates its fortieth anniversary in 2005, and shows why passing a law is not the same as ensuring its enforcement, legitimacy, and opportunity.
"[Walters's] combination of statistics, theory, history, and analysis puts a lot of crucial information in one place." - Publishers Weekly
"This is a must-read for those interested in black voting power as an important avenue for political inclusion." - Booklist
"This book offers useful background information on black voting habits and how the black vote is both obtained and obstructed, with an emphasis on voter turnout rather than the issues blacks should base their votes upon. Suitable for academic and public libraries." - Library Journal
"Walter's message is one of empowerment and self-determination. . . . At a time when Republicans are trying to court the black community by talking up the benefits of President Bush's 'ownership society' and making known their desire to be active participants in the reauthorization of the Voting RIghts Act. . . . Walters's message is important, both to Republicans and Democrats." - Roll Call
