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Dear Friend,
Right now, the Senate has in its hands a critical bill that could finally correct the Supreme Court’s 2013 gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which allowed the suppression of Black and brown votes across the country.
But Senate Republicans can block the John Lewis Voting Rights Act—using the filibuster, a rule originally developed to defend slavery.1
The filibuster is protecting Jim Crow in Congress, and it’s time to get rid of it—but Senate Democrats including Joe Manchin and Dianne Feinstein are standing in the way. More than 50,000 Demand Progress members have emailed their senators, demanding an end to the filibuster, and we need to turn up the heat. Will you donate to help end the filibuster?
Yes, I’ll donate to Demand Progress and help end the filibuster.
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A little history: The filibuster is not part of the Constitution. The Senate filibuster procedure was originally invented by Senator John C. Calhoun, a slaveowner from South Carolina who is known for being a father of the Confederacy, in an effort to defeat any efforts at ending slavery.2
And since then, the filibuster has been used time and time again to oppress Black Americans, by protecting voter suppression, Jim Crow laws, and other relics of slavery’s past.3
Suppression of Black votes is still rampant—in North Carolina, for example, 40% of contested ballots were from Black voters, even though the state is less than 20% Black.4 In Wisconsin, 35% of voter purges took place in just two counties—the two where the vast majority of Black voters reside.5
Two of the most aggressive efforts to end voter suppression and corruption in the election system are the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which have both passed the House of Representatives. And both will be stuck in the Senate if they don’t get at least 10 Republican votes to break free of the filibuster.6
Stacey Abrams has called on the Senate to stop allowing the filibuster to block voting rights legislation.7 But we need to amplify this message to senators.
We’re going to make sure everyone knows that the senators who are protecting the filibuster are helping to preserve Jim Crow. We’re especially targeting the Democrats needed to overturn the filibuster and free up essential voter rights legislation. Will you donate to help end the filibuster?
Yes, I’ll donate to Demand Progress today.
Thanks for standing with us.
Robert Cruickshank,
Demand Progress
Sources:
1. The Guardian, "'Jim Crow relic': Senate filibuster stands in way of Democratic voting rights push," February 9, 2021
2. NPR, "'Kill Switch' Explores How Senate Minority Uses Filibuster To Protect Its Interests," January 12, 2019
3. Ibid.
4. Time, "How the Trump Campaign Is Trying to Suppress the Black Vote," October 22, 2020
5. PR Watch, "Black Voters Continue to Face Voter Suppression 155 Years After Juneteenth," June 19, 2020
6. Common Dreams, "'A Jim Crow Relic That Must Be Abolished': Demand to End Filibuster Grows," January 17, 2021
7. The Washington Post, "Opinion: Stacey Abrams: Our democracy faced a near-death experience. Here’s how to revive it." February 7, 2021
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