The assault on voting rights should remind us of this.
New York City civil rights, labor and religious leaders gather approximately 1,200 demonstrators to board a dedicated Pennsylvania Railroad train, running from New York’s Penn Station to Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, and demonstrate in support of the civil rights bill that would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964.(Bob Parent/Getty Images As an organizer, I do not see this moment as an abstract idea or confined to the pages of a history textbook. As an Afro-Latina mother, I know that today’s actions shape the nation our children will inherit. We are at a time when true patriots and believers in our representative democracy must step up and act.
The recent Supreme Court decision overturning Louisiana’s majority-black congressional district did not occur in isolation. This story is as old as our nation: those in power rig the rules to protect themselves from accountability. And when entire communities are politically silenced, the greed that fuels environmental injustice, mass unemployment, high infant mortality, and crushing costs goes unchecked.
The decision only upped the ante.
Within hours, Tennessee Republicans split a majority-black district in Memphis in a deliberate effort to weaken black political power. In Alabama and Louisiana, lawmakers continue to advance racial gerrymandering efforts aimed at diluting equitable representation. Across the country, voter suppression laws make it more difficult for workers, seniors, students, and communities of color to fully participate in our democracy.
And when politicians like Donald Trump and the Republicans who bow to him see workers reject their failed agenda, they do what powerful interests have done throughout our history: rig the rules instead of responding to the people they have hurt.
But none of this is new.
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These attacks never stop at just one community. When a community is denied full representation, the consequences ripple far beyond that community. This is not just another political fight; it is an act of war against democracy itself.
And in many ways, this struggle has defined American history from the very beginning.
At the founding of our nation, “We the People” proclaimed that all men are created equal, but we did not mean all men. As our nation approaches its 250th anniversary, America still grapples with the gap between its promises and its reality.
Yet ordinary people have repeatedly forced this country closer to its ideals through solidarity, organizing and collective action. Time and time again, Americans have expanded the promise of democracy by demanding that this country live up to its principles. The most powerful of these moments—our second founding, in fact—came with the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, amendments that expanded liberty and the idea that we could all live free.
Yet, like a tug-of-war, every expansion of democracy in this country has been met with backlash from those desperate to retain power.
We saw it after Reconstruction gave way to Jim Crow. We saw this when the civil rights movement collided with voter suppression, racial polarization, and mass disenfranchisement. And we see it again now.
Since the gutting of key provisions of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder In 2013, states across the country passed voter suppression laws, closed polling places, and redrew district maps to protect those already in power.
This repression has taken different forms throughout our history. Sometimes it’s systemic: targeted disenfranchisement, limiting who has power and whose interests are served. Other times, it’s violent. From Tulsa’s Black Wall Street to the streets of Minneapolis, violence has long been used to sow fear and suppress demands for justice.
These efforts have too often been supported by an ideologically aligned Supreme Court willing to erode the spirit of democracy to protect those already in power.
And when Black voters are silenced, the damage doesn’t stop on Black communities. Our entire democracy suffers. Inequality is growing, representative government is weakening, and those most affected by bad policies are losing the power to fight back.
Because the consequences of these attacks go well beyond the elections.
Representation determines who is heard when families struggle to afford health care, housing, child care or groceries. When communities lose political power, they lose control of the decisions that shape their daily lives. Then, as now, those who are politically silenced become vulnerable to bad policy, unable to protect themselves at the ballot box or in the halls of Congress.
This is why voting rights and economic justice are deeply intertwined.
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Too much power in our politics is concentrated in the hands of wealthy interests while ordinary people are increasingly excluded. This is exactly why some politicians are trying so hard to weaken democratic participation rather than expand it. They fear what happens when ordinary people organize and demand a government that answers to them.
As an organizer first and foremost, I have witnessed what happens when people come together to demand change.
I did not run for office just to take a seat. I ran because I believe that everyday people deserve to be able to make the decisions that shape their lives. This belief was shaped long before I entered Congress, by the communities I organized alongside and by the families who fought rising costs when they were told their voices didn’t matter.
History teaches us that progress has never come from above. Every major expansion of democracy in this country has been opposed by ordinary people demanding that America live up to its ideals.
The greatest threat to authoritarian rule is an informed electorate.
This responsibility now belongs to us.
We cannot face this moment with silence or cynicism. Across the country, politicians are actively working to gut our democracy because they fear what happens when ordinary people organize and demand power over the decisions that shape their lives.
We must fight for our democracy the same way generations before us did: by organizing, building people power, protecting the right to vote, and refusing to give up on the promise of a multiracial democracy where every voice is heard.
For my part, I refuse to stand idly by while our country’s democracy deteriorates. The question is whether we will fight for it before it is too late.
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Mejia cries Analilia Mejia is a member of Congress representing New Jersey’s 11th District. She serves on the House Homeland Security Committee and previously served as national political director for Bernie Sanders during his 2020 presidential campaign, as well as co-executive director of People’s Democracy.
