Dear People For Member, I was arrested in front of the White House yesterday – and wanted to let you know why. Our civil disobedience event – a joint direct action with the League of Women Voters, and civil rights and faith leaders from around the country – was designed to put pressure on President Biden to push his party in the Senate and tell them to “fix or nix” the filibuster in order to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. We’re willing to get arrested over this issue because the right to vote is SO fundamental to our American democracy -- no other rights can be guaranteed without it. But we can’t do this work without your support. You see, People For the American Way is funded largely by grassroots donations from people like you. So I hope you can chip in a donation of any size today to support our work protecting democracy and fighting right-wing extremism. The thing is, a lot of progressive organizations in Washington wouldn’t be willing to confront the Biden Administration so directly this early in their first term in office. But here at People For, we’ve always been willing to stand up for our values and “walk the walk” -- especially when it comes to the most fundamental of our American rights, the right to vote. Sadly, Republican-controlled state legislatures all around the country have passed dozens of new voter suppression laws in recent months, with enormous impacts on voters of color and economically disadvantaged communities. The only viable solution to this problem is for the Senate to pass the urgently needed democracy bills that the House has already passed -- but to make that happen, President Biden must use all the powers of his office to get Senate Democrats to ditch the filibuster rule. So that’s why we’re planning to keep fighting, keep demonstrating, and keep getting arrested as often as we need to in order to get President Biden to understand the urgency of this issue. We’ll do whatever it takes to save our democracy ... but we need your financial help to do this work. Will you please contribute to support our work today? Thanks so much and all the best to you. — Ben Jealous, President
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