that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965—which mandated that states with histories of racially discriminatory voting laws seek permission from the federal government before making changes to their voting laws, but that has been rendered inoperable in the aftermath of the Shelby County decision—narrowed the racial wage gap by 5.5 percentage points in the areas where it was most rigorously enforced.
A broken democratic system also stymies the enactment of progressive economic policies that enjoy broad public support—policies that would help all Americans, but especially people of color. Similarly, after Shelby County largely stripped away the Voting Rights Act's power to protect racial minorities' right to the franchise, found that the racial wage gap began to widen once again: For every 1 percentage point increase in a county's Black population, the racial wage gap increased from 0.65 to 0.80 percentage points in the public sector, and 0.49 and 0.59 percentage points in the private sector.
That the racial wage gap fluctuates in response to the presence or absence of federal voter protection measures should come as no surprise. Strong voting rights laws allow for individuals of all racial identities to participate in our democracy. Access to the ballot box means that Americans can vote for representatives and policies that most benefit them, economically and otherwise. Greater democratic power will therefore naturally result in greater economic prosperity for all.
A broken democratic system also stymies the enactment of progressive economic policies that enjoy broad public support—policies that would help all Americans, but especially people of color. Take public sentiment regarding the federal minimum wage as an example. A
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