Friend,
Thank you for your incredible support, your tireless activism, and for every way that you engage with us and our mission at this crucial moment for our country.
This Black History Month comes as all of us at People For the American Way, and in our nation, are facing profound challenges that relate directly to Black Americans’ struggles and accomplishments.
We’re fighting racist voter suppression on a scale unprecedented since Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Era. Our history itself is under attack in schools at all levels of education – with fearmongering legislation and far-right rhetoric aimed at whitewashing the teaching of America’s real history and the central role of race in our national narrative. Book-banning is back, and many of the titles being targeted are the works of some of the most important Black authors depicting the African American experience. And just last week in Minneapolis, we saw yet another Black man, Amir Locke, age 22, not even accused of a crime, executed at the hands of police who violently raided his home using a no-knock warrant.
With your incredible continued support, People For continues to lead the fight to stop voter suppression and secure that most precious right to cast a ballot and have a voice in our democracy. And our Defend the Black Vote program aims to mobilize massive Black turnout in this year’s midterms because, as history has taught us, the most effective antidote against massive voter suppression is often massive voter turnout.
We remain dedicated, as we have been since our founding more than 40 years ago, to defending the Freedom to Learn for all students. Schools should be places that foster critical thinking, the open discussion of ideas, and learning about aspects of our history that are sometimes uncomfortable yet incredibly important. This is vital to understanding our history as Americans and our civic responsibilities as citizens – schools should not be hotbeds of right-wing propaganda backed by a political agenda.
People For is leading truly groundbreaking work in reimagining public safety and promoting innovative reforms in policing that keep communities safe in all regards – preventing and punishing crime while also protecting Black lives and ending the plague of police killings. You’ll hear much more about this work in the coming weeks and months.
And, as you have likely seen, the Far Right has already let fly a barrage of racist attacks against President Biden’s soon-to-be-named Supreme Court nominee before they even know who the nominee will be. With your support and activism, People For is leading the national effort to defeat these attacks and make history by confirming the first Black woman to our nation’s highest court.
That’s why I wanted to take this moment, in the midst of all the challenges we face, to say thank you for being a part of our work here at People For – this Black History Month and year-round. None of this work is possible without you.
With immense gratitude,
Ben Jealous, President
P.S. Here’s an op-ed I wrote for the Trice Edney Newswire last week that has already been published in several national and local publications. It can be found on our blog here >>
How History Will Be Made Again: Black History Month and the Supreme Court
February is Black History Month. The news we are making and witnessing right now reflects all the contradictions of our history—American history.
The history of Black people in this country is a story not just of oppression—but of overcoming. It is a story of both savage inequality and hard-won progress. It is a story of discrimination and spectacular accomplishment.
Let’s start with accomplishment. President Joe Biden will soon nominate the first Black woman to serve as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court—if he hasn’t already by the time you read this. She will be brilliant and accomplished and committed to the constitutional principles of equality under the law and justice for all.
I can say that confidently without knowing who the president will nominate. That’s because the president has already nominated a record number of such Black women as federal district court and appeals court judges. There is a deep bench of impressive, highly qualified Black women judges, lawyers, scholars, and activists. I cannot wait to celebrate the confirmation of one of them as a Supreme Court justice.
It won’t be an easy time to be a justice committed to achieving justice for all. The court is now dominated by justices who are committed to a very different view of the Constitution. The Roberts court is the most pro-corporate court in history, ruling consistently to undermine protections for workers and the ability of the federal government to regulate and punish corporate wrongdoing.
The court’s majority has repeatedly weakened the Voting Rights Act. And that has allowed unprincipled politicians to target Black voters—and weaken our democracy.
The same destructive forces are at work outside the legal arena, too. Allies of former President Donald Trump are putting new voting restrictions in place all across the country. And they are inciting anger among Trump’s followers by repeating the Big Lie that he won the election.
Trump’s allies are also trying to build political power by stoking fear and anger and racial resentment among conservative white parents. They are passing laws that will make it nearly impossible for public school teachers to teach honestly about racism in U.S. history and society—or even engage students in conversations about controversial topics.
They’re taking over local school boards and purging libraries of books that explore the experiences of Black people, Native Americans, and LGBTQ people. One school district in Tennessee has even banned an award-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust and others are already looking to them as a model.
Dealing with racism on an individual level, and watching it play out in our political system, can be painful and discouraging. We can also allow it to motivate us to action.
When we act, when we fight, we can win. After all, we as Black people and we as Americans have overcome far worse than what we are facing today. This year, and in every election year, we have another chance to make history.
We made history in 2020 when we turned out in record numbers to vote. We elected President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black person and first woman vice president. We elected Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the U.S. Senate. And that has allowed President Biden to appoint the most personally and professionally diverse set of judges in history, making our courts look more like our country.
In this Black History Month, we will take another step forward with the nomination of our next Supreme Court justice. Later this year we will celebrate her confirmation. And history will be made again.
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