Just Democracy: “Voting rights is part of the battle for the soul of this nation and we must stop anti-democratic actors from holding our democracy hostage.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Senate Republicans filibustered a bipartisan vote on the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the narrowly tailored voting rights bill that would restore key provisions stripped from the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in Supreme Court Shelby v. Holder decision. Today’s filibuster comes several weeks after Senate Republicans filibustered the compromise voting rights bill, the Freedom to Vote Act, and President Biden stated he would be open to reforming the filibuster for voting rights. 

This vote comes as Just Democracy unveils a horror movie trailer calling on filibuster holdout Sen. Sinema to abolish the filibuster for voting rights. Black faith leaders, Indigenous activists, unions, students, veterans — the key communities that make up her constituency — led a week of action to move her on her position. 

Stephany Spaulding, Just Democracy Spokesperson and Founder of Truth and Conciliation, issued the following statement in response:

“Republicans weaponized the Jim Crow filibuster for the fourth time in this Congress to block simple debate on voting rights legislation. If Senate Democrats don’t do something about the filibuster soon, history will remember their complicity in the deterioration of our democracy. 

Black and Brown voters are pleading with Senate Democrats to do everything in their power to maintain and expand the rights our parents and grandparents fought to secure. But what we saw today dishonors the late Representative John Lewis and the countless civil rights leaders who fought and bled for our right to vote. 

The Senate has a moral responsibility to generations of activists to eliminate the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation. As President Biden, who recently voiced his support for filibuster reform, has said: ‘we are in a battle for the soul of this nation.’  Voting rights is part of this battle and we must stop anti-democratic actors from holding our democracy hostage.”

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About Just Democracy

Just Democracy is an intersectional coalition with racial justice at its core — uplifting voices from all walks of American life that are too often left out of the conversation. The coalition is made up of over 40 Black and Brown-led organizations working across issue areas. It mobilizes thousands who know that advancing social and racial justice issues first requires bold structural democracy reform.

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