5 Things You Can Do to Fight for Democracy Right Now
American democracy is at stake. It’s going to take all of us.
By Fola Onifade
One year after the racial reckoning that swept the country and the globe in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, we’re still in the trenches fighting to advance a multiracial and progressive democracy where diversity of race, gender, orientation, faith, heritage, and ability are valued.
As many of us reflect on what one year of protest and organizing has meant for social justice and progress, we’re still aware of the work we have to do to help make the potential for a multiracial democracy possible. Right now, a big part of that work is beating back the Republican assault on the franchise and defending and expanding the right to vote where we can.
Here’s what you can do to help.
Participate in Fair Fight’s Hot Call Summer; call your Senators and tell them to support the For the People Act to safeguard the right to vote.
Stacey Abrams and the team at Fair Fight are not new to saving democracy. Because the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Amendment Act—two bills that would help strengthen and protect democracy—risk not passing in the Senate, she and her team are organizing a summer of phone banking to Senators.
If you want to volunteer with Fair Fight to make calls, sign up here.
Donate and support grassroots electoral organizing groups.
Keep up with the work happening in important states by supporting groups like the Texas Organizing Project, New Georgia Project, New Virginia Majority, Florida Rising, and LUCHA in Arizona. With the exception of Virginia, these are key states currently facing major voter suppression.
While we need our representatives in the Capitol to do their part and fight to pass both the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Amendment Act, we can’t rely on our elected officials alone. Grassroots organizations do the work on the ground each day to educate their communities on the issues, and drive voters to turn out. Supporting these organizations during this time is one of the most important actions we can take right now. Donate here.
By the way, you can learn more about the New Georgia Project (NGP) by listening to our Democracy in Color podcast episode with the group’s founder, Stacey Abrams, or NGP Action Fund CEO Nse Ufot. If you want to learn more about the New Virginia Majority and how Virginia remains the sole former Confederate state to actually expand democracy, listen to our episode with NVM’s Co-Executive Director Tram Nguyen.
Volunteer or support groups who are holding corporations accountable by pressuring corporate leaders to speak out against voter suppression.
If corporations are paying attention to anything happening in the U.S., they should be as alarmed and as fired up as the rest of us are, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Several of the organizations we mentioned above have organized and pressured companies like AT&T to back up their business leaders roundtable talk with action. Color of Change is another organization that has done plenty of work around corporate accountability and social justice.
Many corporations who denounced the introduction of these state voter suppression bills were silent as the laws made their way through state legislatures, and several continue to provide donations to Republican politicians who support these voting rights restrictions.
With the public’s changing understanding of what should be expected from corporations and business leaders, real corporate social responsibility (and not just lip service) can matter more to a company’s bottom line today than it did in the past.
Follow race-conscious journalists for sharp thinking on the rapidly evolving nature of the fight.
We recently had New York Times political reporter Astead Herndon on our podcast to discuss the changing nature of U.S. politics and what it means for the country. Astead’s work contains the type of critical analysis required to dissect the trends and understand the moment we’re in. Other key thinkers and reporters we look to for clarity and insight are Joy Reid, Errin Haines, Adam Serwer and Ron Brownstein.
Share information within your network from trustworthy news sources and organizations
One reason to stay hopeful even in the middle of conservative assaults on democracy is the public’s awareness of the onslaught of voter suppression tactics, as well as the considerable amount of related news coverage. Republicans working to disenfranchise large sections of the population that are majority people of color is nothing new. This time, however, more people, including journalists, are paying attention. Choose your sources wisely. (Shameless plug: our newsletter is full of good links and information.) And help keep your network in the know about how they can do their part.
Throughout American history, Black Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Latino Americans, Arab Americans, Native Americans, whites and more of all origins, orientations, and abilities have linked together to build a country that works for all of its people. The greatest threat to that work has always come from those who loathe the idea of a multiracial democracy, one that represents the diversity of its constituents’ needs, aspirations, and futures. As activist Angela Davis once said, “Freedom is a constant struggle,” and so we continue to fight for the democracy we hope to see.
For more insights from the Democracy in Color team around race, politics, and history, sign up for our weekly Democracy in Color newsletter.