Friend,

Today marks the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement courageously marched over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the fight for their right to vote.

Just months after the marchers were severely beaten by Alabama state troopers, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), a transformative civil rights law that fundamentally changed American democracy.

Yet today, we are still fighting for our democracy. Hostile forces have invaded our federal government and are gutting it from within under the guise of “efficiency.” The current administration has held up billions of dollars Congress approved for programs and services to be sent to communities. And a recently introduced anti-voter bill would make it harder for millions of eligible people to vote.

Please urge your member of Congress today to do what is right –– and defend, not dismantle, our democracy by supporting the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

These actions have real impacts on real people. Downed Medicaid portals across the country endanger critical health care services. Dozens of Head Start programs providing child care and preschool education are at risk. Mass layoffs of forest service workers and infectious disease specialists endanger communities, making us all more vulnerable.

But we are not sitting idly by as these attacks escalate. This week, the SPLC joined 140 organizations in celebrating the reintroduction of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA). Filed by Congresswoman Terri Sewell (AL-07), this bill would prohibit the barriers erected in recent years and protect voting rights for all — not just some.

The VRAA would ensure equal access to the ballot box for all citizens, regardless of skin color or language ability. It restores and strengthens the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to address ongoing discrimination and disenfranchisement faced by voters of color, modernizing the most successful civil rights law in history to meet the current moment.

Our democracy is on the line, and it’s imperative to stand together and hold accountable the forces trying to take our rights away. Contact your U.S. representative today and urge them to protect the people they took an oath to serve by passing the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

In solidarity,

The Southern Poverty Law Center