I have written this new essay for BillMoyers.com.  It begins:

When singer-songwriter John Legend recently declared “Selma is now” at the Academy Awards, we could perhaps chalk it up to poetic license. After all, states no longer use literacy tests or poll taxes to stop African-Americans from voting, black voter registration rates equal or exceed those of whites even in Alabama and racial violence at the voting place is thankfully rare throughout the United States.

But Legend, who won the Oscar with the artist Common for their song Glory from the film Selma, is right: the promise of the Selma marches 50 years ago, chronicled in the film and which helped spur passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), remains partially unfulfilled. And unfortunately, we can no longer count on either Congress or the Supreme Court to fully protect voting rights. The new battlegrounds are state legislatures, local governments and the public square.