We’re still determined
“I’ll be damned if I’m going to let the fascists win in a forfeit” -Ezra Levin, Indivisible co-founder
We’ve fought hard so far, but the vote to reform the filibuster and protect voting rights with the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act failed in the Senate last week. It’s a hard blow because it means that we’ll very likely go into the next elections without major federal legislation protecting voting rights.
But it does not mean we’re done fighting for democracy. In the words of Ezra Levin (Indivisible co-founder):
“So what now? This fight for a real democracy has been part of America since its founding. Nor is using the filibuster to block pro-democracy, pro-civil rights legislation anything new. After the Civil War, southern segregation[ist]s popularized and weaponized the filibuster to prevent the Senate from taking up democracy legislation. The 1964 Civil Rights bill overcame a weeks-long filibuster, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act faced its own filibuster threats as well. Those bills were decades in the making — the end successful result of decades of failed attempts.
So what can we do after losing a hard fight? Here are the options:
We can give up.
We can keep building power.
That’s it. End of list. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let the fascists win in a forfeit.”
…and we will keep showing up. We’re in it for the long haul.
