Today in America, the right to vote is under assault. Following a presidential election in which voters of color turned out in record numbers, state legislatures rushed to pass an unprecedented wave of laws last year restricting access to voting.

You don’t have to look hard to find evidence of enduring racial inequities affecting Black America. The pandemic exposed disparities in healthcare, access to technology and other conditions that affect economic mobility in disadvantaged communities.

The story of democracy in America has been a long and arduous march towards universal suffrage. That march—advanced by generations who have protested, sacrificed, and even died in the struggle for freedom—has not always been linear; moments of progress have often been met with stretches of backlash.

Sadly it seems we are in one of those periods of backlash, led by one party and spearheaded by the most contemptuous president in modern history.

Communities of color across the U.S. face barriers to access - including experiencing food insecurity, lack of economic opportunity, and obstacles to obtaining information - that impact how they engage in the democratic process.

On January 5, 2021—after traveling thousands of miles on Georgia's highways and backroads and countless conversations with voters—I watched a son of Savannah and the former Chair of the New Georgia Project's Board of Directors, Raphael Warnock, become the first Black U.S. Senator from the State of Georgia.

The Event

One of the things that concerns me most in the aftermath of January 6th is that the lies that led up to the violence of that day haven’t gone away. Before Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, he worked for months to sow distrust in our election systems, casting doubt on the legitimacy of important tools for voter access such as drop boxes and vote-by-mail—tools that were especially important in an election that took place in the middle of a pandemic.

During the March on Washington, millions arrived in our nation’s capital to demand decent and equal housing and sustain the fight for economic inclusion for Black people in America.

Bragging to donors that her organization secretly drafted voter suppression bills for state legislatures, using operatives to disguise the source and create a "grassroots vibe," Heritage Action for America Executive Director Jessica Anderson gushed, "Honestly, nobody even noticed." 

For generations, the protection and advancement of voting rights have been viewed as a critical role of the federal courts. It is true that landmark rulings, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, provided essential anchors for the Civil Rights Movement, but this support from the courts has not been consistent or linear.