Friend,

Last month, I joined civil rights leaders in Selma, Alabama for the 60th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.” We were there to fight back with our partners, co-sponsoring an event led by the Leadership Conference entitled, “Saving Democracy,” and speaking about the attack on inclusive democracy at the National Urban League. At the march, as I walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge side by side, hand in hand with thousands of fellow activists and leaders, some of whom had been on that very bridge sixty years ago to the day, I was in awe of their bravery and inspired by their decades of hard work to fully realize our democracy by securing voting rights for us all.

And yet, our right to vote remains under threat.

Right now, two very different pieces of voting rights legislation are being considered by Congress. One, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (John Lewis Act), named after the late John Lewis – who marched alongside his fellow activists for the right to vote all those years ago in Selma, seeks to protect the right to vote for all Americans. The Act would restore and modernize the Voting Rights Act of 1965, bringing it to its full power.

The other, the "SAVE" Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility), seeks to diminish voting rights by imposing unnecessary requirements to register to vote that intimidate immigrant communities and Black and brown voters.

With the possibility of the passage of the SAVE Act, the barrier for voting will continue to rise for millions of Americans. The SAVE Act would require every voter to provide proof of citizenship, likely a birth certificate or passport, which many Americans do not have easily accessible.

This threat from Congress follows similar attacks from the Trump Administration, who only last week signed an executive order aimed at curtailing voting rights and attempting to place further restrictions on Americans’ right to vote. Both the EO and the SAVE Act are part of the relentless anti-immigrant attempts to curtail the constitutional rights that we and communities like ours are facing.

The efforts to diminish our constitutional rights must stop. Our voting rights must be protected and restored.

Take action and write to your members of Congress to to ask them to oppose the SAVE Act and support the John Lewis Act.

Regards,

Maya

Arab American Institute Foundation
1600 K Street, NW, Suite 601
Washington, DC 20006
United States